"My lord, now that Cao Cao's army is marching south, it is the best time for us. Please marshal your troops and attack Xuzhou!" As soon as Chen Gong got the news, after thinking about it for a while, he came to Lu Bu in a hurry and said anxiously.

"Don't panic, Gongtai. Let's tell you slowly what happened." Lu Bu finally found a foothold and was developing well during this period. Just when he was in a good mood, he suddenly heard the news and was instantly shocked.

There was no reaction.

Chen Gong also realized that he had lost his composure. He tidied up his appearance, calmed down and said slowly: "My lord, the spies in Xuzhou sent news that Xia Houyuan led an army of 40,000 people to Jiangdong a few days ago. Now only Xuzhou is left.

Cao Ren is stationed with 30,000 troops, so this is the best opportunity for us to capture Xuzhou!"

Lu Bu frowned: "It shouldn't be! Cao Cao just defeated Tao Qian and took Xuzhou. Why did he start fighting Yuan Shu again so quickly? Gongtai, do you think there is any fraud in this?"

Chen Gongxin said: "Don't worry, my lord, Gong has already found out clearly. Liu Bei and Yuan Shu are at war. Cao Cao also sent Xiahou Dun south in Yanzhou. He probably wants to reap the benefits, and it is not a plan to hide the truth."

"Besides, with such a large-scale army mobilization, even if there is fraud, we can quickly react and withdraw the troops. My lord, there is no need to worry. Soldiers are valuable and quick, and I also ask your lord to quickly send troops to capture Xuzhou. By then, we will have Qingxu and Xuzhou in our hands and unify the Central Plains.

It’s just around the corner!” Chen Gong said slightly excitedly.

Lu Bu didn't have any opinions to begin with, but after hearing Chen Gong's words, he was ready to move: "What Gongtai said is true. If that's the case, then I..."

"Report!" A shout came from outside the door.

Wei Xu, Lu Bu's brother-in-law, barged in as furiously as Chen Gong. Wei Xu secretly glanced at Chen Gong's face before calming down.

Fortunately it’s not too late!

"My Lord, there is an important letter from Cao Cao coming from Yanzhou. Please read it."

Lu Bu took the letter and unfolded it. After scanning it, he handed the letter to Chen Gong and laughed loudly: "What a Cao Mengde, how can he be so truthful!"

Chen Gong frowned and quickly glanced at the letter in his hand. His expression suddenly changed: "My lord, please don't be happy. This is Cao Mengde's plan to delay the attack. My lord, please don't be fooled!"

After Lu Bu heard this, he immediately felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on him, and his face showed astonishment.

Wei Xu looked at Lu Bu's face from the side, and quickly stood up and said, "Are the military advisors worried too much? For the sake of the overall situation of the Central Plains, Cao Cao is willing to sacrifice his troops and generals to attack Yuan Shu, and he is also willing to cede the land of two counties to the lord to show his sincerity in the alliance.

Isn’t this credible?”

Chen Gong glared at Wei and continued: "This is just an empty promise, how can it be trusted? If Cao Mengde doesn't cede the land of the two counties to the lord in the future, what can we do? Cao A is hiding from the treacherous villain, and his words cannot be trusted!"

"Cao Cao's move is just to appease my lord and protect Xuzhou. My lord must not fall into the trap! My lord, think about it, if Cao Mengde can hold Xuzhou, how can he easily cede the two counties? This action shows that Cao Cao's current military strength

It’s not good enough, it’s empty inside, Xuzhou is strong on the outside but incompetent on the inside, and it can be destroyed with a snap of the finger!”

"My lord, if you think about it carefully, which one is more important, the complete Xuzhou, or the two counties? My lord, we must not lose a big opportunity because of a small thing!"

Chen Gong's words were very clear and well-founded. Lu Bu, who had always been indecisive, began to waver in his thoughts again and became biased towards Chen Gong.

When Wei Xu saw that something was not going well, he glared at Chen Gong secretly: "My lord, Cao's elite army is not something we can easily defeat. Now that we have gained two new counties, in addition to the soldiers stationed in various places, we can't defeat them easily."

We don’t have much spare troops, so it may be difficult to capture Xuzhou!”

Chen Gong looked at Wei Xu coldly: "General Wei, what you said is untrue. Cao Cao's troops are empty, and Yuan Shao has just faced a great war, so why do we need so many soldiers for garrison? Gong thinks 30,000

It is enough for the army to stick to Qingzhou. My lord leads an army of 100,000 to attack Xiapi City, and we will definitely conquer it in one battle!"

Wei Xu felt a little guilty when Chen Gong saw him, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "Even so, we still have to be on guard! We have finally found the territory of Qingzhou. If we become rootless again because of our radicalism,

What should we do? Now that we have just settled in Qingzhou, the situation is very good, so the best policy is to proceed steadily."

As Lu Bu's brother-in-law, Wei Xu understood the character of his lord best. Although Lu Bu was arrogant and tough externally, internally he was actually an indecisive and soft-spoken big boy.

To put it bluntly, Lu Bu's war was not to unify the world, but to protect his own people and separate one side. After wandering for half a year, he finally found a place to live under the influence of others. What Lu Bu was most worried about was that Qingzhou would be lost.

Sure enough, when Lu Bu heard about Qingzhou's failure, he hesitated again.

Chen Gong was in a hurry: "My lord, the situation in the Central Plains has become increasingly clear. A war will break out again within three years at most to determine the ownership of the Central Plains. Our army is the weakest among the three parties, and Cao Cao is the strongest. If we don't take the opportunity to attack Xuzhou, I'm afraid that by then we will

They will all become prisoners of the other side. Since war will begin sooner or later, if we don't seize this good opportunity now, when will we wait?"

"My lord, do you really think that Cao Mengde will kindly hand over the two counties to us? It's just a verbal promise! My lord, you must not take any chances and miss the opportunity! I can't leave an extra 20,000 troops to guard Qingzhou, and there will be 80,000 troops."

It’s enough to capture Xuzhou! My lord, please think again!”

Hearing this, Lu Bu started to get excited again. Seeing that something was not going well, Wei Xu looked at Chen Gong with a flash of resentment in his eyes: "My daughter! Chen Gongtai, just wait for me!"

"Lord, Cao Mengde said that he is willing to hand over one county to the lord first, and the remaining one county will be handed over to the lord after the war. This is sincerity! Cao Mengde is not lying!" Wei Xu had to take out

Killer weapon.

Sure enough, Lu Bu's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Did Cao Mengde really say that?"

Wei Xu was certain in his heart and said quickly: "It's absolutely true, my lord! If we raise our troops to attack Xuzhou, we may not be able to defeat it even if we lose our troops and generals. After all, Cao Ren is Cao Cao's number one defender. If Cao Mengde is forced into a desperate situation,

If you give up attacking Yuan Shu and return to attack the lord, that will be a serious problem!"

"On the contrary, if we take the opportunity to develop our power and sit still and reap the benefits, we can still get the land of the two counties for free. Which one is better and which one is worse is clear at a glance."

When Chen Gong heard this, he looked at Wei Xu expressionlessly and said coldly: "General Wei is so wise! How did I find that you were so eloquent before? Those who didn't know thought that Cao Cao said this through the mouth of the general.

Woolen cloth!"

Wei Xu's face turned red from holding back, and he yelled angrily: "Chen Gong, what do you mean? I respect you as a military advisor, but you don't want to slander others! I am purely thinking about my lord, and I have no second thoughts."

"For the sake of my lord?" Chen Gong chuckled: "Then why didn't you tell the truth about that county clearly at the beginning? But you only told the truth when the lord was about to agree to a certain plan? Is it because the reward given by Cao Cao was not enough?

Less?"

"alright!"

Before the angry Wei Xu could continue to argue, Lu Bu directly interrupted their quarrel.

Lu Bu glared at Wei Xu fiercely: "Both of you are my right-hand men and are loyal to each other. Why should we quarrel over this matter? In public, Wei Xu did not behave appropriately just now. I will apologize to you on my behalf."

"But what Wei Xu said does make sense. I'll wait and see if we can take over that county."

Chen Gong looked anxious when he heard this: "Lord!"

Lu Bu waved his hand and directly stopped Chen Gong from continuing: "That's it. It's settled. You don't need to persuade me anymore, just go down!"
Chapter completed!