Chapter 579

"Hmph! Then I shall respectfully obey! Please, Lord Tao!"

Hearing that Tao Qian had finally ended the topic, Liu Bei let out a long sigh of relief. A smile reappeared on his face as he made a gesture of invitation.

He arrived at the Qi Prince's Mansion together with Tao Qian and accepted his hospitality.

After lunch, Lu Bu began to attack the city once again.

Liu Bei, having been invited, began to lead his two generals, Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei, along with his own troops, to participate in the defense of the city.

Sure enough, with the addition of Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei, the city's defenses, which had previously been in imminent danger, became stable.

Even with Lu Bu personally leading the assault, he could not take the city in a short time.

This made Lu Bu very annoyed: "Damn it! This Liu Bei is truly a troublemaker! To think he would show up at a time like this!"

"Gongtai, what should we do now?"

"With Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei here, it will likely be impossible for me to easily take this Southern Jingzhou in the short term!"

"But we don't have much grain and fodder left; we can hold out for a month at most. Where should we go from there?"

Lu Bu was very irritable!

At this moment, he hated Liu Bei to the core!

Chen Gong felt a headache coming on as he asked, "My Lord! With your strength, if you were to launch a full-scale assault, are you confident you could defeat the combined forces of Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei and help our army take this Picheng?"

Lu Bu shook his head upon hearing this: "I have no such confidence! If I lead the troops to attack the city, I cannot form a military formation with my personal guards to face the enemy together;"

"But Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei are different; they can completely rest and wait for the enemy, forming a military formation with their own soldiers to deal with me!"

"Plus, the two of them are joining forces. With this increase and decrease in strength, it is impossible for me to take them down in the short term, unless my cultivation base advances further and I break through to the mid-stage of the Heaven-Man Realm;"

"Although I have already touched the bottleneck, I do not have absolute certainty of completing this breakthrough without a year or half a year!"

"Therefore, this path is not feasible!"

He felt aggrieved! A dignified Heaven-Man Realm divine general, actually being troubled by two peak Gangjin or, rather, half-step Heaven-Man Realm individuals.

It was simply a great humiliation.

"This is troublesome!"

Chen Gong frowned upon hearing this: "We currently occupy a few cities like Xiaopei. If we scrape them clean, we can still gather a few months' worth of grain!"

"Additionally, if we manage these few cities diligently, they should be able to provide us with some grain;"

"I only fear that the noble clans and powerful families in these cities will not cooperate with us and will instead oppose us in secret!"

"Moreover, continuing like this for a long time is not a solution!"

"It would be best to take Picheng; that is the right path!"

"Otherwise, we might have to find a way to bypass Picheng, take other cities and commanderies, and sustain our army through war!"

"Continuing to stand off here does not benefit us much!"

"Hmm!"

Lu Bu nodded affirmatively: "That makes sense! Then let's abandon Picheng and go attack other cities in Donghai Commandery!"

"Our army's main force consists mostly of cavalry with high mobility; staying here to attack the city is indeed inappropriate!"

"It would be better to go attack other cities, sustaining the army through war while finding ways to lure Tao Qian and Liu Bei out of the city to fight. When that happens, the advantage will be on our side!"

"By the way! As for grain, fodder, and even military equipment, we can actually purchase them from Su Boyuan!"

"I believe that with my reputation and his habit of doing business, he will certainly be willing to sell me enough grain and military equipment! What does Gongtai think?"

In any case, he was not actually short on money for operations.

Previously, while ravaging Yanzhou, he had plundered quite a lot of wealth.

The wealth in Cao Cao Aman's lair had all ended up in his pockets.

Chen Gong's eyes lit up slightly, and he asked with anticipation: "If it can be done, that would naturally be for the best! However, my Lord, are you certain that the King of Qian will give you this face and sell you grain and military equipment?"

He had heard that the King of Qian enjoyed doing business.

He was also well aware that the military equipment crafted by the King of Qian's workshops was of high quality and reasonably priced.

If they did not have a fixed territory to develop, purchasing from the King of Qian was indeed an excellent method.

"Haha! Naturally!"

Lu Bu laughed confidently: "Not to mention the friendship between me and Su Boyuan! Even if there were no friendship, Su Boyuan would not refuse a business deal that comes to his doorstep!"

"Leave this matter to me! I can just use the golden eagle to discuss it with Su Boyuan!"

When Lu spiritual energy went to take refuge with Su Boyuan, she had left the golden eagle Su Xuan gave her with Lu Bu, specifically to facilitate future communication.

Over the past few months, Lu spiritual energy and Su Xuan had communicated with him quite often.

Lu spiritual energy had no plans to return to Lu Bu for the time being; she was already studying at the women's academy on Su Xuan's side!

Lu Bu could not win against Lu spiritual energy and had no choice but to agree.

Of course, he would never admit that he also did not want his wife and daughter to follow him, wandering around and living a life of displacement.

It would not be too late to bring Lu spiritual energy and her mother back once he truly had a fixed territory and his power was stable.

Therefore, even though Chen Gong had advised him more than once to bring his wife and daughter back from Su Xuan's side earlier, he had never agreed.

In any case, there was no place safer than staying with Su Xuan.

"Very well!"

Chen Gong nodded. Before long, he saw Lu Bu write a letter, place it into a small metal tube on the golden eagle's leg, and release the bird.