Chapter 446

Hmm! There was also the factor of Lord Yuan Shao being indecisive.

In short, Xu You suddenly began to not be optimistic about Lord Yuan Shao, and instead felt that Cao Cao was more likable!

With this thought, Xu You wanted to make Cao Cao owe him another big favor, to make it easier to leave himself a way out.

If something really happened, with this favor, he could easily become a guest of honor at Cao Cao's side and be heavily used, right?

Thinking of this, Xu You said to the commander of the Office of Affairs: "Very well! You can leave first! I will do what I promised!"

"Then thank you, Mr. Xu Ziyuan!"

The commander of the Office of Affairs bowed in thanks, informed Xu You about Guan Yu's letter, and reminded him: "At this moment, Lord Yuan Shao should have already received the letter. Mr. Xu Ziyuan might as well go to Lord Yuan Shao's side now. I will take my leave!"

Saying this, the commander of the Office of Affairs walked away quickly.

"They are really well-prepared! Let's go take a look then!"

Xu You stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, smiled slightly, and walked toward Lord Yuan Shao's command tent.

At this moment, in Lord Yuan Shao's command tent,

"Damn it! Liu Bei's two wives are actually in Cao Cao's hands? And they are pregnant with Liu Bei's children? No wonder Guan Yu was manipulated by Cao Cao!"

"Why didn't Liu Bei tell me such an important thing? What on earth is he trying to do?"

"Could it be that he never thought about letting Guan Yu serve under me?"

Thinking of this, Lord Yuan Shao's face darkened.

He felt he had been deceived.

At this time, Xu You walked in and happened to see Lord Yuan Shao's dark expression. He hurriedly stepped forward and bowed slightly: "Who has made you angry, my lord?"

Lord Yuan Shao glanced at Xu You and said irritably: "Who else could it be? Liu Bei! Look... you'll understand if you look at this!"

Saying this, Lord Yuan Shao handed the letter in his hand to Xu You.

Xu You hurriedly took the letter and read it quickly.

When he saw the smearing marks on the letter, his eyebrows rose slightly, and he thought: "Good for you, Cao Mengde! You are indeed insidious and cunning! If this letter is handed to Liu Bei later and Lord Yuan Shao questions him, there will be some fun to watch!"

"By then, there will inevitably be a rift between Lord Yuan Shao and Liu Bei, and it's even possible they will turn against each other!"

"Hmm! I must pour some oil on the fire then;"

"Only then will it be worth the favor I earned from Cao Cao! Hehe!"

With this thought, Xu You immediately returned the letter to Lord Yuan Shao and said: "My lord! It seems Liu Bei didn't tell you the truth, and Guan Yu probably won't be able to come to your side!"

"Of course, for the sake of Liu Bei's life, Guan Yu shouldn't appear on Cao Cao's front-line army in the short term either!"

"This can be considered a tacit understanding between Liu Bei and Guan Yu!"

"But at the same time, Liu Bei is no longer trustworthy and might betray you at any time and flee your command!"

"You must guard against this, my lord!"

Applying eye drops and sowing discord; he, Xu You, was a professional.

"Hmm!"

Lord Yuan Shao frowned, nodded, and said: "Indeed! In your opinion, Xu Ziyuan, how should I deal with this Liu Bei?"

"Kill him? Or lock him up first? Or simply expel him?"

If this letter hadn't accidentally fallen into his hands first, he might really have been fooled by Liu Bei.

"Hmm..."

Xu You suggested: "For the sake of your reputation, my lord, why not summon Liu Bei for a confrontation, confirm his crimes, and then kill him to boost the army's morale? What do you think, my lord?"

He knew Lord Yuan Shao; saying "kill him" directly wouldn't work.

Lord Yuan Shao would likely not agree.

Moreover, Guo Tu had just walked in, so he couldn't reveal his purpose directly.

He even prepared to use Guo Tu's hand to urge Lord Yuan Shao to kill Liu Bei.

After all, Guo Tu loved to contradict him; if he thought they shouldn't kill Liu Bei directly, Guo Tu would definitely oppose it strongly.

Doing this actually had a great benefit: he wouldn't be hated by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Xu You had prepared a way out; if Lord Yuan Shao lost, or if his own affairs were exposed and Lord Yuan Shao wanted to kill him, he would go to defect to Cao Cao.

Guan Yu was with Cao Cao, so it wouldn't be good to offend such a top-tier fierce general.

Otherwise, if someone didn't care and just wanted to take revenge for Liu Bei, Xu You didn't think his neck was harder than Guan Yu's blade.

Sure enough, Guo Tu, who had just walked in, heard Xu You's words and subconsciously retorted: "My lord, this subordinate believes that Xu You's words are greatly mistaken;"

"Hmm?"

Lord Yuan Shao raised an eyebrow and looked at Guo Tu: "What do you mean?"

Guo Tu was unhurried and bowed, thinking: "Fortunately, I overheard the general situation outside the tent just now, otherwise I really wouldn't know how to answer!"

Thinking this, Guo Tu said: "My lord! This subordinate believes that no matter how you confront Liu Bei, for the sake of survival, Liu Bei will never admit it and will definitely try to defend himself, fight for his life, and stall for time!"

"If Liu Bei runs away, you will become his mortal enemy, my lord!"

"Given Guan Yu's status and position on Cao Cao's side, Liu Bei might abandon his past grievances and run to defect to Cao Cao, and might even take Zhang Fei with him;"

"By then, you will have several more great enemies out of thin air, so please think twice, my lord!"

Lord Yuan Shao nodded subconsciously: "Guo Gongze, what you say also makes sense! What do you think, Xu You?"

"This..."

Xu You showed a trace of hesitation on purpose: "My lord! This matter should ultimately be decided by you; I won't interfere!"

Saying this, Xu You bowed to Lord Yuan Shao and took his leave.........

Lord Yuan Shao didn't stop Xu You, but looked at Guo Tu and said: "Since you think we should strike first, Guo Gongze, then you execute it!"

"I have only one requirement: don't let Liu Bei run away, kill him directly!"

"As for that Zhang Fei, send someone to Zhuojun to secretly capture and kill him! We absolutely cannot leave any future trouble, understand?"

That's right, Zhang Fei was not on the front lines at this time, but had returned to his hometown in Zhuojun.

Because Zhang Fei's father was seriously ill, Zhang Fei had to return to fulfill his filial duty.

"Yes!"

Guo Tu bowed and left to accept the order.

All of this fell into the eyes of the Secret Guards in Lord Yuan Shao's army through spirit beasts.

The Secret Guards felt this news was very important and immediately sent a message to Su Xuan via a golden eagle.

Su Xuan, who had returned to Xiangyang City, received the intelligence after only half a day.

He raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Mengde is scheming for Lord Yuan Shao to kill Liu Bei? That's a good strategy!"

"If Liu Bei really dies, then Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are very likely to fall into my hands;"

"Both of them have very good talent; if I provide resources to cultivate them, their future achievements won't be lower than Zhao Zilong and the others! They are worth pushing!"

Originally, he had also considered whether to kill Liu Bei early and then find a way to subdue Guan and Zhang.

These two did have some flaws in their personalities, but for him now, it wasn't impossible to turn them around.

He didn't mind having more great generals.

As for you saying Guan Yu is with Cao Cao now, if Liu Bei dies, Zhang Fei might also go to Cao Cao's side to join Guan Yu?

That's not an issue.

Aren't Cao Cao's great generals ultimately his own?

"Since that's the case, let's give it a push!"

Thinking this, Su Xuan immediately communicated with his Golden Dragon of Luck, looked across the air at the Guandu battlefield, and easily locked onto the dragon luck above Liu Bei's head.

— Author's Notes —

PS: Seeking first subscriptions, custom subscriptions, and support!

PS: Seeking first subscriptions, custom subscriptions, and support!