Chapter 456: Xu You and Guo Tu Backstab Each Other (1st update!)

"You... this..."

Ju Shou, hearing this, shook his head with a sigh, bowed to Lord Yuan Shao, and apologized: "Please forgive me, my lord; I truly should not have complained about these things at this time!"

"As Guo Tu said, since this matter is already a foregone conclusion, there is no point in discussing right or wrong!"

"As for solving the problem of Guan Yu? Our army currently has no general who is his match; we can only deal with him by using our numerical advantage!"

"No matter how strong Guan Yu is, he doesn't count for much on the entire battlefield!"

"As long as we can defeat Cao Cao in the overall situation, Guan Yu will naturally no longer be a threat!"

"Currently, besides having more troops, our army’s advantage is that our grain and grass are more abundant;"

"Therefore, I think the best strategy is to maintain the current rhythm, constantly attack Cao Cao, and constantly exert pressure on him!"

"When Cao Cao’s army cannot withstand the pressure, or when his grain and grass are exhausted, that will be the day our army breaks the Cao army."

Ju Shou was actually very speechless in his heart.

It was clearly Lord Yuan Shao and Guo Tu’s fault, so why did it become his fault?

Can't one even speak the truth?

Of course, he didn't have such low emotional intelligence, so he naturally wouldn't confront them head-on at this time.

Otherwise, there would definitely be no good outcome.

He appeared calm on the surface, but he could only sigh in his heart.

Lord Yuan Shao, hearing Ju Shou take the initiative to soften his stance and admit his mistake, naturally would not pursue Ju Shou any further.

After all, he was not stupid; he had already realized that he truly shouldn't have killed Liu Bei at this time.

Even if Liu Bei had truly deceived him, it would have been better to imprison him temporarily than to kill him!

If he really wanted to kill him, he could have waited until the war with Cao Cao was over and he had occupied the three provinces of the Central Plains.

By then, he would already be the number one warlord in the world, and a mere Liu Bei, killing him would be nothing.

By then, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei would not be threats either.

Instead, now, he had to worry about Guan Yu and even Zhang Fei defecting to Cao Cao and fighting desperately for him to attack him.

Thinking of this, Lord Yuan Shao looked at Guo Tu with deep eyes and couldn't help but ask: "Guo Tu! How is the matter with Zhang Fei going? Is there any good news?"

"Uh... this..."

Guo Tu, hearing this, felt cold sweat on his forehead and didn't dare to speak for a moment.

Should he say that the men sent to surround and kill Zhang Fei failed?

That he not only lost a double but also lost thousands of Lord Yuan Shao’s armored soldiers, and still couldn't do anything to Zhang Fei?

And that even Zhang Fei’s family had disappeared?

Of course, if he didn't say it, how could Xu You miss such a good opportunity to kick him while he was down?

Immediately, Xu You said gleefully: "My lord! I know about this! Guo Tu sent thousands of armored soldiers to surround and suppress Zhang Fei, but not only did they fail, they were defeated by Zhang Fei!"

"Even now, Zhang Fei and his family have disappeared!"

"This is not good news for you, my lord!"

"After all, Zhang Fei and his hundreds of personal guards have strength that cannot be underestimated; they are not much worse than Guan Yu!"

"Leaving them in Jizhou is a huge threat to our rear!"

"They might even threaten the safety of our rear and our families at any time!"

Lord Yuan Shao frowned: "I didn't expect Zhang Fei to be so powerful?"

"What kind of dog luck did Liu Bei have to have two such powerful sworn brothers?"

At this moment, Lord Yuan Shao was also very troubled, not knowing how to deal with the Zhang Fei problem, and thinking of the incompetent Guo Tu, he glared at him and shouted: "Guo Tu, you failed to handle this, causing Zhang Fei to threaten our rear; what is your crime?"

"Ah, this..."

Guo Tu was startled and hurriedly defended himself: "My lord! I am indeed at fault for this; I underestimated Zhang Fei’s strength!"

"But I have already tried my best!"

"I sent 5,000 armored soldiers to surround and suppress Zhang Fei; this is already the strongest force we can muster right now!"

"Any more would not be appropriate!"

"I didn't expect Zhang Fei to be so powerful!"

"But doesn't this just prove that Liu Bei deserved to die?"

"Hmm?"

Lord Yuan Shao raised an eyebrow: "How so?"

Guo Tu, seeing Lord Yuan Shao attracted by his words, continued to explain: "My lord, think about it! Zhang Fei is clearly so powerful, not even worse than Guan Yu, but Liu Bei never mentioned Zhang Fei to you, and had no intention of letting Zhang Fei serve you!"

"Even when you were going to punish him because Guan Yu killed Generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou, he was still like this!"

"From this, it can be seen that this person harbors malicious intent and was never truly serving you, my lord. He just wanted to use you to deal with Cao Cao to avenge himself, and at the same time, sit and watch you and Cao Cao fight to the death, both suffering, so he could seize huge benefits in the chaos;"

"It cannot be ruled out that he would backstab you at that time and seize your foundation!"

The more Guo Tu spoke, the clearer his logic became, and the more he felt what he was saying made sense...

He even felt that Liu Bei was definitely as he described, harboring ill intent.

Otherwise, how do you explain the Zhang Fei matter?

You could say Guan Yu was separated and deceived by Cao Cao.

But what about Zhang Fei?

Do you really think a mere excuse of mourning can deceive the world?

What were you doing before?

When you were the Prince of Qi in Xuzhou, why didn't you let Zhang Fei come back to mourn his father?

You must know, Zhang Fei’s father had already died when Liu Bei was still in Xuzhou.

"That’s true!" Lord Yuan Shao, hearing this, also felt that what Guo Tu said made a lot of sense, successfully being led astray by Guo Tu.

Xu You, seeing this, felt it was bad and immediately continued: "My lord! Guo Tu is just making excuses! We are not talking about whether Liu Bei deserved to die or if he harbored malicious intent;"

"Anyway, Liu Bei is already dead, so whether he harbored malicious intent is no longer important, is it?"

"What we should be talking about is Guo Tu’s negligence in failing to suppress Zhang Fei, leading to Zhang Fei threatening our rear."

Having said this, Xu You looked at Guo Tu with a sneer: "Heh! Guo Tu! Guo Guo Gongze, don't think you can gloss over this matter; you cannot escape the blame that is yours."

— Author's Notes —

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