Chapter 382

"Hiss!"

Chen Deng gasped: "It's actually like this? There's actually such a plan?"

"What a proxy plan! The Lord and the others are truly amazing!"

"Before, I also felt that because the Lord lacked manpower due to the new policies and couldn't expand, he could only sit by and watch other warlords constantly expand and grow, which was too regrettable!"

"Now it seems that the Lord and the others are too smart! They actually thought of such a good plan!"

"In this way, the problem of manpower shortage is solved, and they have secretly controlled Hanzhong, Guanzhong, Bingzhou, and even Liangzhou and other places without making a sound;"

"The Lord has suddenly become the warlord with the largest territory!"

"The key is that by doing this, other warlords don't know at all, so they won't regard the Lord as the biggest threat and can't wait to solve the Lord first!"

"It's simply killing many birds with one stone!"

Why didn't he think of such a good method?

"Right?"

Jia Jia Shisan smiled triumphantly: "I also felt this move was very powerful before!"

Afterwards, Chen Deng and Jia Jia Shisan began to discuss the subsequent plans in detail.

Su Xuan's order was issued, so they naturally had to plan carefully how to make Lu Bu and Liu Bei confront each other for a year or a year and a half before being taken by Cao Cao.

Mm! Jia Jia Shisan also received another order from Su Xuan, which was to ensure Lu Bu's life after Lu Bu was defeated.

In fact, even if Su Xuan didn't say it, Jia Jia Shisan would have done so.

After all, being in the Dark Guards, who doesn't know that Lu Bu has a good daughter who fell in love with the Lord?

Although it feels a bit strange that the Lord and Lu Bu are brothers and friends, while Lu Bu's daughter fell in love with the Lord.

But this is not something they can manage.

The day after receiving Tao Zou Qian's abdication to Liu Bei, Lu Bu and the others moved again and launched an attack on Xiapi City.

The purpose was to launch a fatal blow while Tao Zou Qian and Liu Bei were fully occupied with the handover.

To successfully break through Xiapi City.

But because of the support of Chen Deng and the others behind the scenes, Liu Bei easily stabilized the situation in Xiapi City and sat firmly in the position of King of Qi and Lord of Xuzhou.

Barely blocking Lu Bu's offensive.

Making Lu Bu unable to take Xiapi City for a time.

"Damn it! Why did Chen Deng and the others submit to Liu Bei so easily? Willing to follow Liu Bei?"

"What's so good about that big-eared thief? He's just a straw sandal seller; what virtue or ability does he have to make Chen Deng lick his stinky feet?"

With the war going poorly, Lu Bu, who had retreated, complained indignantly in the commander's tent.

Why didn't he have such good luck?

Oh? You say Chen Gong helped him take Yanzhou at the beginning?

Then never mind.

"It is indeed a bit strange!"

Chen Gong, who was on the side, stroked his beard with surprise and said with confusion: "Logically speaking, the Chen clan of Xuzhou is considered the largest aristocratic family in Xuzhou; they shouldn't look up to Liu Bei, and it's impossible for them to truly submit to Liu Bei!"

"However, things are not absolute. Since it has already happened, it shows that there is an inevitable reason for it;"

"Perhaps it has a lot to do with us forcing those aristocratic families and powerful clans to provide money, grain, and people in the territory we occupy!"

"In addition, the Chen clan has many industries in our occupied area, and their losses during this period are likely not small!"

"This might be one of the main reasons why they chose to support Liu Bei to confront us!"

"Furthermore, Liu Bei is easier to control than the Lord, which is likely also an important reason."

"Mm?"

Lu Bu was slightly stunned: "Chen Gongtai, why do you say that? Liu Bei has Guan and Zhang, two generals, under his command. Although they are much worse than me, they are also extremely strong. How can they be easily controlled by Chen Deng and the others?"

"My Lord! Things are not calculated like that!"

Chen Gong shook his head with a smile: "My Lord, you are straightforward and domineering. Coupled with what we did in Xuzhou before, the feeling it gave Chen Deng and the others was domineering. Even if they had any demands, I fear you wouldn't agree!"

"Moreover, we have a strong army, and we don't have much need for their demands. We have absolute strength to force them to submit and give up a large amount of benefits;"

"In comparison, Liu Bei not only has no foundation in Xuzhou, but besides Guan and Zhang, he has no more than five or six thousand troops. His strength is far worse than yours! If Liu Bei wants to sit firmly in the position of Lord of Xuzhou, he must rely on local Xuzhou aristocratic families like Chen Deng and Cao Bao;"

"Having to rely on others, naturally his backbone can't be hard, and he must be controlled by others to a certain extent!"

The world is just that realistic!

"So that's it!"

Lu Bu suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! It seems that one must have enough strength oneself!"

"However, now that Liu Bei has the full support of Chen Deng and the others, I'm afraid it won't be that simple for us to take Xiapi and the entire Xuzhou!"

"Chen Gongtai, what do you think we should do next?"

His mind was also very chaotic now.

Fight, can't take it in the short term.

Don't fight, feel uncomfortable with Liu Bei and the others guarding Xiapi and other places.

Sure enough, he really hates this Liu Bei!

He is simply a stirrer.

He is everywhere, annoying!

"My Lord! Withdraw the army!"

Chen Gong thought for a moment and said: "Judging from the current situation, it is unrealistic for us to take Xiapi and other places in the short term;"

"Staying here has no benefits, and it will waste a lot of money, and even damage troops and lose generals, which is not worth the loss!"

"It's better to withdraw the army directly and manage and digest the territory we occupy first;"

"After we improve our strength, then consider taking the entire Xuzhou, or attacking Yuzhou and Yanzhou to the west, or attacking Qingzhou to the north, all are good choices."

"In addition, I have received news that Cao Cao in Yanzhou is also burying his head in developing and strengthening his forces, and his target is likely my Xuzhou;"

"Next year, we will likely have a battle with him! At that time, relying solely on us might not be his match;"

"If things go wrong, we might have to join forces with Liu Bei to deal with Cao Cao."

"Mm?"

Lu Bu was stunned, then furrowed his brow: "Cooperate with Liu Bei? Chen Gongtai, are you mistaken? How can this be? How is this possible?"

Still fighting to the death now, and then turn to cooperate against outsiders later?

Feels a bit fantasy-like.

"Heh heh! This is very normal! My Lord!"

Chen Gong saw Lu Bu's thoughts and found his simplicity funny, so he explained: "Between forces, between warlords, it's just a matter of different stances!"

"It has always been interest first!"

"There are no eternal enemies, and no eternal friends!"

"For the sake of interests, one moment you are enemies, the next moment you can be allies!"

"This is not new in history! Why is my Lord surprised?"

"Our conflict with Liu Bei lies in Xuzhou, but if there are foreign enemies who want to compete with us for Xuzhou, then we have a common enemy, and naturally we can act in unison against outsiders, solve this enemy first, and then we can close the door and compete for Xuzhou!"

"We can't let the enemy reap the benefits because of our fighting and take Xuzhou, right?"

Their fighting is an internal matter of Xuzhou, naturally they can't let Cao Cao sit and watch the situation.

"Is that so?"

Lu Bu furrowed his brow even tighter and said indignantly: "That Cao Cao is truly hateful! He has already snatched Yanzhou, and he still wants to continue to snatch Xuzhou from me?"

"Simply unreasonable! Don't let me find an opportunity, otherwise, I will definitely make him look good."

Chen Gong found it funny in his heart.

At the beginning, it was you, Lu Bu, who was led by me to seize Cao Cao's Yanzhou and stabbed him in the back.

Even now that we have been defeated, Cao Cao has also suffered heavy losses, and Yanzhou has also been beaten up in many places.

Cao Cao hates us too much! What's strange about him coming to snatch Xuzhou?

If he really wants to hate, Cao Cao should hate them even more.

Not to mention, Xuzhou is very important to Cao Cao.

If he can take Xuzhou, Cao Cao can obtain a stable granary and greatly increase his strength.

No matter how you look at it, Cao Cao is impossible to give up this piece of fat meat, Xuzhou.

The time left for Cao Cao is not much either.

"So, we really might have to join forces with Liu Bei to fight the enemy in the future?"

Lu Bu asked again.

"Mm!"

Chen Gong nodded affirmatively: "If nothing unexpected happens, yes. Relying solely on our strength, it is a bit difficult to defeat Cao Cao;"

"My Lord, you should have experienced Cao Cao's ability before, right?"

"That's true!"

Lu Bu nodded and sighed: "I really didn't look up to Cao Cao at the beginning, thinking his strength was average, and he liked to flatter Dong Zhuo, just a villain!"

"Even in the later coalition against Dong, I thought the same!"

"Who could have thought that after truly fighting Cao Cao, I discovered that his personal martial arts might be average, and his ability to command troops is not as good as mine, but his strategy is far superior to mine. Giving me the feeling that he is only a bit worse than Su Boyuan, it's simply incredible!"

"I can only say that I underestimated this person too much!"