Chapter 661

"I was only able to escape being killed because I was far away! This is absolutely true!"

"If you don't believe me, General, you can send people to investigate!"

"Good!"

Zhang Fei shouted angrily: "I will go and investigate personally!"

As he spoke, he prepared to rush out, but was directly stopped by Especially Guan Yu Yu: "Third Brother, don't be impulsive! No matter what, the West City is lost! Given the gap in strength between us and Cao Cao, I'm afraid Xiapi City cannot be held!"

"The top priority is to gather the remaining troops, money, and grain, and then break out of Xiapi City!"

"Otherwise, if we continue to stay here, I'm afraid we will be doomed!"

"What do you think, Big Brother?"

Especially Guan Yu Yu looked at Liu Bei as he spoke.

Although Liu Bei was deeply hit and didn't understand why Chen Deng betrayed him.

Clearly, he had treated him well and respected and valued him highly.

But what Especially Guan Yu Yu said was indeed very correct; for the sake of his great cause, he had to force himself to calm down as quickly as possible.

He reached out and patted his face to make himself sober and calm, then nodded: "Good! Second Brother is right! Let's do as you say!"

"Quickly gather the troops, money, and grain, and prepare to withdraw!"

"In addition, send someone to notify Lu Bu in the East City, explain the situation and our plans; as for what he ultimately chooses, that is up to him!"

Now, there was no time to worry about Lu Bu.

In fact, there was not much need for an alliance anymore!

Once Xiapi City was lost, Xuzhou was basically finished.

It was time for them to go their separate ways.

"Understood!"

Especially Guan Yu Yu and Zhang Fei immediately took orders and began to act.

As for Lu Bu, before Liu Bei's messenger could arrive, he had already learned the news that the West City had been broken through Jia Shisan.

"Marquis of Wen, you should leave! Go to Huaiyin City! Everything is ready there!"

"There will be a fleet there to take you to Jingzhou to meet with the Lord!"

Jia Shisan said to Lu Bu with a smile.

Lu Bu narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Jia Shisan and said: "You guys have good methods! Playing everyone around in circles!"

"I have long known that Boyuan's wisdom is extraordinary; if he were to play schemes and tricks, I estimate no one in this world could outplay him!"

"Now it seems my thoughts were correct!"

"Thank you for the reminder! We are setting off now!"

"What about you guys? Are you still going to stay in Xuzhou?"

"This place will be Cao Cao's territory later; aren't you afraid of being discovered by Cao Cao?"

Lu Bu was indeed very curious about this.

"Not at all!"

Jia Shisan shook his head with a smile: "We have already arranged everything, and we have absolute certainty that we will not be exposed!"

"On this point, General, don't worry!"

"Of course, the premise is that you, General, will not betray us!"

"Nonsense!"

Lu Bu laughed and scolded: "Am I, Lu Bu, that kind of person? I can't do things like returning evil for good!"

"Forget it! Your methods are indeed very powerful! I worried for nothing!"

"That's it! You can leave; we are about to set off too!"

"Lest we get chased by Cao Cao! Although we aren't afraid, it's annoying!"

As he spoke, Lu Bu began to arrange for his subordinates to start moving.

"Hehe! Then I will take my leave!"

Jia Shisan smiled and immediately took his leave.

More than ten minutes later, before Cao Cao's army could attack, Lu Bu led his troops out of the East City Gate and headed south towards Huaiyin City...

During this time, he naturally met the messenger sent by Liu Bei.

But he already knew the news, so there was nothing to say, and he sent the person away directly.

Half a day later,

Cao Cao stood on the North City Tower, looking towards the north, and asked Chen Deng, who was on the side: "Yuanlong, you should take the first credit for breaking the city this time! Thanks to you, I was able to take Xiapi City so easily!"

"However, why are Liu Bei and Lu Bu so cunning? They both withdrew? My people almost failed to catch up!"

He suspected whether Chen Deng was hedging his bets.

Chen Deng was not stupid and naturally heard it, so he quickly cupped his hands and said: "Returning to the King of Han, my subordinate did everything according to the plan we agreed upon!"

"I absolutely did not reveal any news to Liu Bei and Lu Bu!"

"As for why they withdrew immediately? It can only be said that your strength and deterrence are too strong, which directly chilled their hearts, and they didn't even have the courage to fight you head-on!"

"With such an army, it no longer poses much of a threat to you, my King!"

"It can be easily eliminated!"

Chen Deng's words were also watertight; he didn't directly say he hadn't leaked secrets, but every sentence seemed to be clearing his own suspicion.

"Hmm!"

Cao Cao nodded noncommittally: "That makes sense! I'm not too worried about Liu Bei; Cao Ren and the others have already caught up to their tail!"

"Plus, they are fleeing to the north, and there are my armies guarding the route, so they cannot escape!"

"On the contrary, Lu Bu's side acted very quickly, and most of them are cavalry, so I'm afraid we won't be able to catch up!"

"However, he didn't flee north, but south; does he have a way to cross the river quickly?"

Cao Cao couldn't figure this point out.

Chen Deng seemed to think of something upon hearing this and immediately cupped his hands: "My King! I might know the reason for this!"

"Hmm?"

Cao Cao looked at Chen Deng with some surprise and asked: "Let's hear it!"

Chen Deng immediately said: "According to my intelligence, Lu Bu seemed to have had contact with people from the Su Family Chamber of Commerce a few days ago! I'm afraid he has already established a connection with the King of Qian, and the King of Qian has likely already sent people to meet him?"

Saying this was also to reduce his own suspicion and, at the same time, make Cao Cao have a better impression of him so that he could successfully remain in Xuzhou later.

As for gaining Cao Cao's trust?

Chen Deng had never planned on that from the beginning.

From the moment he betrayed Liu Bei, he understood that the suspicious Cao Cao could never truly trust him again.

"Oh? There was such a thing?"

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows upon hearing this: "Sure enough, he did establish contact with Boyuan! Or rather, they never broke contact!"

"However, are there still people from the Su Family Chamber of Commerce in the city?"

Once upon a time, there were many people from the Su Family Chamber of Commerce in Yanzhou!

But over the years, most of them had gradually withdrawn or moved into the shadows.

The small number remaining were all under his surveillance.

It wasn't that he didn't want to expel them completely, but because he couldn't live without many of the products of the Su Family Chamber of Commerce!

Whether it was grain, military equipment, white paper, refined salt, white sugar, soap... and many other daily necessities, it was all like this.

Yet, these things were basically only manufactured by methods mastered by Su Xuan.

Therefore, it was impossible to completely sever Su Xuan's commercial tentacles.

In fact, he even had to treat them well.

Not to mention anything else, just the grain and fine military equipment were things Cao Cao could not refuse.

"Uh..."

Chen Deng paused upon hearing this, then shook his head: "As far as I know, they withdrew several days ago! At least, on the surface, that should be the case;"

"As for whether there are still their people in the shadows, I don't know! It will take time to investigate later to be clear!"

"Does my King need me to investigate clearly?"

"No need!"

Cao Cao waved his hand and refused: "Let them be! For now, the impact is not great! Moreover, I don't want to tear my face with Boyuan!"

He still had to wait; waiting until he took down Yuan Shao in the future and prepared for a decisive battle with Su Xuan would be the time to clean up these people.