The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 145 Li Yi is still a human being, not a man with four eyes and two mouths, but he is full of wisdom and strategy

"General, you are the governor of Runan appointed by the imperial court, so you should take control of Runan."

"Yuan Shu has invaded your territory without any reason. You must not be an accomplice to him."

"Returning to the imperial court as soon as possible and helping General Liu and Minister Cao fight against the enemy will be a great contribution to the country."

Li Yi's words were still coming, and he continued to attack Lu Bu.

Lu Bu looked very ashamed and asked immediately:
"How should cloth be done?"

The corners of Li Yi's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a faint smile.

"General, you can go back to the city. Raise a fire as a signal at 3 o'clock tonight."

"Kill Zhang Xun first, then open the city gate and let our army enter Longkang."

"If it goes through, my lord will recommend you as the right general and grant you a golden seal and purple ribbon."

Lu Bu was overjoyed when he heard this, and asked with his mouth wide open:
"Sir, do you really mean what you say?"

The four generals in the Eastern Han Dynasty were of equal rank. If Lu Bu had been appointed as the Right General, he would have almost reached a high position in the court.

"Yi is a man of few words, but he always keeps his word. If the general can really help the Han court conquer Longkang, he should be awarded a golden seal and a purple ribbon."

"The imperial court is currently short of money and has no good gold. I am willing to use my own gold to make a seal for the general."

"The country does not have a purple ribbon, so General Liu took off his own purple ribbon and gave it to you."

After he finished speaking, he handed a purple ribbon to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu took it with both hands in fear and said hurriedly:

"Bu has been deeply blessed by the Emperor, and should serve the court."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Li, we will light a fire as a signal at three o'clock tonight."

"Then Bu will open the city gates and let General Liu's troops into the city."

Li Yi smiled slightly, "In that case, I will trouble you, General."

As he was speaking, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves.

It was a cavalry unit sent by Zhang Xun to chase Lu Bu.

The leader was a general under Yuan Shu and the magistrate of Dongcheng, Qi Ji.

Qi Ji reined in his horse and asked Lu Bu loudly:

"General Lu, how dare you leave the city without General Zhang's order?"

Lu Bu replied in a deep voice:

"I am here on the orders of General Yuan to help Zhang Xun defend the city. Zhang Xun has no right to order me around!"

you!
Qi Ji's face changed, knowing that Lu Bu was as brave as a tiger, the others did not dare to approach.

I saw him chatting with Li Yi again, and I wanted to ask something but didn't dare to open my mouth.

He just looked at him, sizing Li Yi up and down.

Most of the other soldiers did not recognize Li Yi and looked at him from afar.

Seeing this, Li Yi just smiled faintly and shouted loudly:

"Do you guys want to see Li Lang?"

"I am just like other people. I don't have four eyes or two mouths, but I have many wisdom and strategies."

"We can ask Zhang Xun to surrender the city as soon as possible, but if he hesitates, his head and body will be separated."

When everyone heard that it was Li Yi, they all looked frightened.

Li Yi ignored them and just bowed to Lu Bu, saying:

"May the general not forget what I said today."

After saying this, he led the cavalry and reined in their horses to return to the formation.

This was the last nail Li Yi buried.

In front of Zhang Xun's subordinates, he deliberately had an intimate conversation with Lu Bu.

In this way, regardless of whether Lu Bu will really rebel against Zhang Xun in the end, the two will be suspicious of each other.

Seeing Li Yi walking away, Qi Ji and the others urged their horses to rush to Lü Bu and asked:
"What did General Lu talk about with Li Ziyu just now?"

Lu Bu replied calmly:
"We are not talking about military affairs, but only about the past events in Xuzhou."

Qi Ji remained silent upon hearing this. He wanted to ask something else, but Lu Bu had already urged his horse back to the formation.

Qi Ji did not want to ask any more questions and returned to Longkang with Lu Bu and others.

Tell Zhang Xun what happened today as soon as possible.

Zhang Xun frowned and said in surprise:

"During this trip, Lu Bu had a long conversation with Li Yi. They didn't talk about military matters, but about old times."

"Why?"

Qi Ji gave advice:
"Lü Bu was defeated in Yanzhou before and had to retreat to Xuzhou."

"At that time, Liu Bei provided him with food, fodder, and horses, and showed great favor."

"Moreover, there is no hatred between the two. Now they are working together with us to defend Longkang, but they have not shown any effort."

"I'm afraid he has been secretly communicating with Liu Bei and is planning to harm you, General."

Zhang Xun was surprised when he heard this:
"It is true. If I don't plan early, I will be killed by Lu Bu sooner or later!"

After that, he asked Qi Ji:
"How about I bring some people to kill him?"

Qi Ji shook his head, "Lü Bu is brave and valiant, and it is not easy to make a rash move against him."

"You can first bring someone to test his heart. If he really has a secret relationship with Liu Bei, then you can kill him with just cause."

Zhang Xun readily agreed and brought dozens of strong warriors to find Lu Bu.

After hearing this, Lu Bu felt uneasy.

He ordered Wei Xu and Cheng Lian to lead ten men each, all armed with swords and weapons, to serve on his left and right.

He brought Chen Gong to meet Zhang Xun and Qi Ji.

The two armies faced each other. Zhang Xun glared at the people behind Lu Bu and asked in a deep voice:
"What did General Lu and Li Ziyu talk about during the day?"

Lu Bu frowned slightly, his eyes deepened, and he answered in a deep voice:
"We only talked about the past in Xuzhou, not military affairs."

Zhang Xun raised his eyebrows and said sternly:

"Now that the two armies are at war, how can we not discuss military affairs?"

The atmosphere before my eyes became increasingly tense.

Lu Bu frowned deeply, feeling a lot of emotions, and said:

"Li Yi didn't say anything, so why should I say it alone?"

"Now Lord Yuan has sent me to help you defend the city. Why do you doubt me?"

Zhang Xun shouted loudly:

"You and Li Yi were secretly having an affair and were trying to harm me."

"I don't know!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the warriors behind him drew their swords.

Seeing this, Wei Xu and Cheng Lian also drew their swords.

Lu Bu felt a little guilty, thinking that he and Li Yi had agreed to light a fire as a signal at three o'clock in the morning, so it was not appropriate to start a conflict now.

I had no choice but to answer:
"There was no such thing, why did you frame me?"

Chen Gong saw this and stepped forward to dissuade them, trying to mediate the situation:
"There must be a misunderstanding here. Li Yi is a cunning man."

"I invited you on purpose to make our two families suspicious."

"General, you must not fall into Li Yi's trap."

Hearing this, Lu Bu nodded repeatedly, "That's right."

Zhang Xun refused to buy it and shouted:

"Li Yi invites you to go, so go. If you don't go, will it cause suspicion between our two families?"

"It's obvious that they are secretly colluding, and you still dare to make excuses!"

Lu Bu remained silent, unable to answer, but his hand had already unconsciously placed on the hilt of the sword.

Obviously, they are ready to break off relations.

Qi Ji, who was standing by, saw the details carefully, and hurried forward to hold Zhang Xun, saying loudly:

"Mr. Gongtai's words make sense. Now our two families are under the orders of Lord Yuan and are working together to defend the city. We should not be suspicious of each other."

"The enemy has not retreated yet, but our two families have started fighting, which has benefited the people of Xuzhou."

Qi Ji shouted very loudly, and everyone present could hear it clearly.

Chen Gong lifted his clothes and returned to the battle formation, holding down Lu Bu's arm and signaling him not to be impulsive.

Qi Ji also returned to the battle formation and grabbed Zhang Xun, shaking his head secretly.

Both sides stopped fighting and retreated in dismay.

After coming down, Zhang Xun found Qi Ji and asked in a deep voice:

"During today's confrontation, I can see that Lü Bu has already shown signs of rebellion. Why don't you let me kill him?"

Qi Ji frowned and advised:
"Lü Bu is brave and difficult to defeat. Now our two families are almost equal in strength. If we clash rashly, I'm afraid we will not be able to defeat him."

Zhang Xun thought for a moment and said:
"In that case, I will gather all my troops and attack them now, how about that?"

Qi Ji nodded repeatedly and replied:
"This is the best. Lü Bu may have become suspicious. If we don't act quickly, he will surely harm us."

"We have more people than you, so we can strike first!"

After the two men had made their decision, they each went to gather their own troops and prepared to attack and kill Lu Bu.

On the other side, Lu Bu returned to the house, feeling unsettled, so he summoned Hou Cheng, Wei Xu, Chen Gong and other generals to discuss the matter.

"Today during the day, I saw that Zhang Xun was very suspicious of me and might have the intention to harm me."

"I surrendered to Yuan Shu before, but it was not my true intention."

"Now, Minister Cao and General Liu are here to fight against the enemy. Bu is the Marquis of Wen in the Han court. How can he work with the enemy?"

"I have discussed with Mr. Li earlier. We will set fire tonight at 3 o'clock as a signal, and cooperate with each other to plot against Zhang Xun."

"But looking at the situation today, we have no choice but to move this matter forward, otherwise we will be harmed by Zhang Xun."

All the generals responded in unison and piled up dry firewood behind the city.

He also gathered his troops and horses, each of them hung their swords and prepared to start an uprising.

Suddenly, I heard shouting outside the house and countless torches came towards me.

Someone had already informed Lu Bu:
"Report to Lord Wen, Zhang Xun and Qi Ji are leading their troops to attack our army."

Lu Bu was furious when he heard this:
"These two thieves really suspected me and wanted to harm me."

"Luckily I realized it first, otherwise I would have been killed by these two thieves!"

He immediately ordered Hou Cheng and Song Xian to attack the city gate and set it on fire to alert the Xuzhou army that an uprising had begun.

He personally led the army, wielding his spears, and marched straight in to meet Zhang Xun and Qi Ji, shouting:
"How dare the bandits plot to murder me!"

Zhang Xun and Qi Ji had already assembled their troops and were not afraid at all. They shouted coldly:

"How dare you, a traitor to your master, speak so arrogantly!"

So he led his army to attack.

Lu Bu danced with his halberd and killed the enemy soldiers as if he was in an empty space.

The Fang Tian Hua Ji was dancing wildly, causing a bloody rain in the enemy's formation.

Whenever the painted halberd was swung, it left behind broken limbs and dead bodies, and no one could stop its edge.

Since it was a street fight in the city, Lu Bu did not ride on his Red Hare, but killed the enemy on foot.

They charged into the central army and ran into Zhang Xun.

"You old thief, you've killed me. Let's see where you're going today!"

Lu Bu stood up in a rage and chopped Zhang Xun's face hard with his halberd.

Zhang Xun hurriedly raised his knife to block it.

There was a loud and earth-shattering crash that made the ears of people around buzz.

Zhang Xun only felt pain in his palms, weakness in his arms, and a trace of blood flowing along the knife handle.

"what!?"

Zhang Xun was shocked when he saw this, and only today he realized how brave Lu Bu was.

Before he could react, Lu Bu flipped his wrist again and knocked the blade away with a halberd.

Zhang Xun had lost his weapon and was about to turn around and retreat.

Before Lü Bu could chop him off with his halberd again, Zhang Xun hurriedly blocked it with his hand.

With a puff, his left hand was chopped off by Lu Bu.

Zhang Xun was in so much pain that he held his left shoulder and retreated in pain.

The rest of the generals rushed forward and surrounded Lu Bu in the center of Gai.

Lu Bu danced wildly with his painted halberd, and all the generals were unable to move away, so they just surrounded him and killed him.

Lu Bu summoned up his spirit and fought against all the generals. His halberd was in the open and blood splattered everywhere.

He chopped down and killed several generals one after another.

Suddenly a big fire broke out in the city, and several troops rushed over together.

They were all the defenders of Longkang.

Realizing that he could not defeat the enemy, Lu Bu hurriedly mounted his Red Hare.

He led generals such as Wei Xu and Cheng Lian to engage in a melee.

Zhang Xun's left arm was cut off and bleeding profusely. He couldn't find anyone to treat him for a while and was in unbearable pain.

He eventually fainted due to excessive blood loss.

The generals were about to shout for help when they suddenly saw Lu Bu leading his cavalry to attack.

The generals had no choice but to abandon Zhang Xun and lead their own troops to engage in battle.

Zhang Xun fell to the ground and was trampled to death in the melee.

"Marquis Wen! Long Kang has too many soldiers and horses. We can't resist them. Let's go out from the south gate first."

Seeing that the Xuzhou army had not yet entered the city, Lu Bu felt that he was no match for Yuan's army with his current troops.

Then he said aloud:
"It's the only way. I'll lead the way, and you can lead your troops and follow me!"

Everyone obeyed the order with great enthusiasm and followed Lu Bu all the way to the South Gate.

Zhang Xun and Qi Ji also intended to drive Lu Bu to the South Gate for fear that he would join forces with the Xuzhou army.

Then they attacked the soldiers and horses, blocked the direction of the north gate, and drove Lu Bu towards the south gate.

Lu Bu fought and retreated all the way to the South Gate.

The troops defending the South Gate were weak and could not withstand the enemy, so they dispersed.

Lu Bu led his troops out of the south gate and fled desperately for dozens of miles. He was relieved when he saw that there was no enemy chasing him.

After another count of the men, there were only about two hundred people.

The rest of the troops were either trapped in the city or killed by the enemy.

Lu Bu then sent Cheng Lian and Hao Meng, each with twenty cavalrymen, to gather up the remaining troops and horses.

Chen Gong came over and scolded:

"Fengxian, you acted too rashly!"

"The war has just begun. Even if you want to surrender to the court, you shouldn't do it so blatantly and arouse the suspicion of Zhang Xun and Qi Ji."

"Today our army was on the mend, but was defeated again."

"Where is the high position and generous salary that Li Ziyu promised?"

"You are being used by others and you don't even know it!"

Lu Bu disagreed, "I heard that Li Ziyu is an honest gentleman, famous in the world, how could he deceive me?"

Chen Gong rolled his eyes, looked at him with a look of disappointment, and said in a deep voice:
"If Li Ziyu really wanted to conspire with you to kill Long Kang, he shouldn't have held the reins and said something that would arouse suspicion."

"He just wants to cause internal strife between Zhang Xun and me, so that they in Xuzhou can reap the benefits."

Lu Bu raised his eyebrows and said seriously:
"Longkang is heavily guarded. How can we conspire with them if we don't leave the city to talk to them?"

"If he had sent letters to Zhang Xun, they would have been discovered, and the whole matter would have been exposed."

this! !

Chen Gong didn't know what to say for a moment, and said:

"We agreed to set fire tonight as a signal. We have resisted in the city for a long time, but we have not seen the Xuzhou army coming."

"Why?"

Lu Bu replied:

"Li Ziyu is a man of wisdom and strategy. I agreed with him to raise a fire as a signal at three o'clock in the morning."

"Because the incident happened suddenly, it was exposed ahead of time."

"Although Bu has managed to open the city gate, Li Ziyu will surely suspect that something has happened in the city, so he dare not move rashly."

"After the third watch, he will lead his army to rescue us."

well! !

Chen Gong was speechless and angrily thrust his sword into the ground.

I wondered why I ended up with such a lord.

He persuaded Lu Bu to come to Runan to join Yuan Shu, but his original intention was that he himself liked Yuan Shu.

But when he arrived in Runan, he found that Yuan Shu was not someone who could accomplish anything.

Especially now that Liu Bei and Cao Cao are using the emperor's name to join forces to attack.

Yuan Shu will be finished sooner or later, so there is no time to surrender.

Chen Gong represents the interests of the Yanzhou scholar group and has always wanted to take back Yanzhou.

In his eyes, Lu Bu was just a swordsman from the border.

But we have been together for so long that I can't bear to leave, and I have nowhere else to go.

Lu Bu stood up and brushed the dirt off his body.

"We have been defeated in Longkang and our army is short of soldiers. Where should we go?"

Chen Gong pondered for a while, and suddenly a plan came to his mind. He pulled Lu Bu aside and said seriously:

"Since I've already betrayed Yuan Shu, I might as well go all the way."

"Go back to Shouchun!"

Lu Bu was shocked when he heard this and said hurriedly:
"Sir, you are hysterical!"

"We rebelled against Yuan Shu and helped Liu Bei seize Longkang. How dare we go back?"

"If Yuan Shu knew about this, wouldn't he kill Buye?"

Chen Gong shook his head. "We will go back to Shouchun and tell them that Zhang Xun had secretly communicated with Liu Bei and that we have killed him."

"But the situation was hopeless. Liu Bei entered the city and we were unable to resist him. We had no choice but to abandon the city and flee."

"In this way, we can stay in Shouchun. When the Xuzhou army arrives in the future, we can serve as internal support."

"Helping Liu Bei defeat Yuan Shu is a great achievement. Even if Liu Bei doesn't tolerate us, he must not treat us unfairly."

As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at Longkang City in the distance, and said faintly:

"Now there are flames all over the city. I guess the Xuzhou army has arrived."

"We have few soldiers and have just been defeated. It is difficult for us to fight back."

"If you keep yourself useful, you may be able to achieve great things in the future."

Lu Bu nodded, but he felt guilty after all, and said worriedly:

"Long Kang knows that I have secret contacts with many people in Xuzhou. If anyone escapes, I will tell Yuan Shu."

"How can Yuan Shu trust me?"

Chen Gong shook his head, a meaningful smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

“…No.”

"Haha, who knows that we have been secretly communicating with Xuzhou?"

This……

Lu Bu was startled and scratched his head. "There was a big battle tonight, and everyone in Longkang knows about it. Why do you say no one knows about it?"

Chen Gong shook his head again and smiled:
"If it was really us who were secretly communicating with Xuzhou, why didn't the Xuzhou army come to attack us?"

"Liu Bei clearly saw the fire in the city and thought he had an opportunity, so he led his troops into the city and captured Longkang."

Lu Bu suddenly realized, but he still felt a little uneasy.

"What if Yuan Shu still refuses to believe it?"

After all, he only had so few men and horses. Going back to Shouchun would be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth. Lu Bu really didn't dare to take the risk.

Chen Gong put his hands behind his back, held his head high and said confidently:

"Longkang is an important town on the Woshui River, and it is the shelter of Shouchun's right wing."

"Today, losing Longkang is like cutting off one of Yuan Shu's arms."

"Besides, their general Zhang Xun has died in the city, and Qi Ji is also trapped in the city."

"Yuan Shu has lost many soldiers and generals, so it is time to use more people. Even if there is suspicion, it will not harm him."

Chen Gong was an extremely powerful strategist.

He had a grasp of Yuan Shu's mentality at this moment.

That's just people, they tend to only believe what they want to believe.

There was a voice clearly telling him that Lu Bu and others could not be trusted, but he still believed it.

Because he subconsciously hoped that what Lu Bu said was true, and then he used self-PUA and chose to believe it.

It's a kind of psychology.

With Chen Gong's assurance, Lu Bu immediately gained a lot of confidence.

Chen Gong immediately bowed and said:
"I am willing to follow your advice, sir!"

At this time, Cheng Lian and Hao Meng also gathered their remaining troops and returned.

After gathering nearly two thousand men, Lu Bu immediately led his remaining troops to Shouchun.

On the other side, inside Longkang City.

When Qi Ji lost Zhang Xun, he immediately took over his troops.

They are clearing out the remaining remnants of Lu Bu's troops in the city.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of horses' hooves like thunder. It turned out that the Xuzhou army had rushed into the city.

There is Xu Chu in front, Xu Huang behind, Taishi Ci on the left, and Tian Yu on the right.

Qi Ji fought hastily and continued to fight until dawn.

The morale of Yuan's troops was low and they had lost their will to fight, so they all surrendered to Liu Bei.

Seeing that he could not stop the defeat, Qi Ji had no choice but to surrender to Liu Bei with his army.

After daybreak, a flag with the surname "Liu" was raised in Longkang City.

Li Yi and Liu Bei led their troops to settle in Longkang.

He ordered that the people should not be disturbed, and then he came forward to appease the defenders in the city without punishing them.

However, Li Yi still ordered his men to confiscate all the equipment and instruments of the defenders to prevent any unrest.

Not stated.

……

(End of this chapter)