Chapter 130 Save the soldiers and civilians of Xiakou from the butcher's knife! The situation is hopeless, let's surrender to Liu!

"Double insurance?"

Liu Bei's brows relaxed, his eyes sparkled, and he turned to Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang's gaze turned to Gan Ning:

"There is a general under Huang Zu named Su Fei. Xingba, are you friends with him?"

Gan Ning was stunned at first, then his expression changed.

That year, Su Fei was heading south to Xiangyang to protect grain, and he happened to meet him leading his army to rob a ship. The two men fought on the Han River, and the battle was back and forth.

Gan Ning rarely met an opponent who could compete with him. Although he had the upper hand, he admired Su Fei's ability in water combat and let him go.

Su Fei also admired Gan Ning's strength and chivalrous spirit, so he took the initiative to give Gan Ning more than a hundred stones of food and grass, and the two sides became friends after a fight.

Later, when Su Fei was protecting grain several times, Gan Ning met him and they drank together a few times, and they became friends.

However, this matter was a secret of Gan Ning and he had never revealed it to anyone.

"How did this Military Advisor Xiao know about this?"

"Could it be that he really has opened his eyes to the universe and knows everything about the world and everyone in it?"

Gan Ning was amazed, and then said:
"Ning... Ning does have some friendship with Su Fei. During the previous battle at Han River, I tried to persuade him to surrender to the lord but to no avail."

Gan Ning did not dare to hide anything, so he simply reported to Lao Liu what happened when he ran into Su Fei that day.

"This will be easy to handle."

Xiao Fang nodded slightly, then said slowly:
"My lord, you can order Xingba to use his friendship with Su Fei to send someone to sneak into Xiakou to persuade Su Fei to surrender."

"Su Fei has some experience in the Jiangxia Army. I believe his influence is far greater than that of Huang She, the young boy."

"If Huang Zu is really seriously injured and cannot be cured, and Huang She is going to make the foolish decision to surrender to Sun Ce, we can use Su Fei as an insider and forcefully break through Xiakou."

Liu Bei suddenly understood what Xiao Fang meant by double insurance.

Ordering Huang She to persuade Huang Zu to surrender is a layer of insurance.

If Huang Zu died and Huang She dared to surrender to Sun Ce, Su Fei would be activated as a second line of insurance to ensure that the Jiangxia generals would not follow Huang She and side with Sun Ce.

"Xingba should have understood what the military advisor meant. What do you think?"

Liu Bei readily accepted the suggestion and then looked at Gan Ning.

Gan Ning originally wanted to persuade his old friend Su Fei to surrender, and Xiao Fang's plan was exactly what he wanted, so there was no reason for him to refuse.

"My lord, brother-in-law, Liang thought that in addition to persuading General Su to surrender, we should also launch some public opinion offensive against Xiakou City."

Zhuge Liang suddenly spoke again.

Liu Bei suddenly became interested and motioned for Zhuge Liang to continue.

"Although Sun Ce has the spirit of a hero, he is extremely bloodthirsty. When he was pacifying Jiangdong, he would often raise his knife to kill anyone he disliked."

"I think the Jiangxia army and civilians have heard of Sun Ce's reputation for murder and brutality, and they must be wary of him."

"We can spread rumors in Xiakou City, saying that Sun Ce is resentful of Huang Zu for killing his father, and if he takes Xiakou, he will massacre the city to vent his anger."

"In this way, the generals in the city will be afraid of Sun Ce's bloody brutality. Even if Huang She is foolish enough to defect to Sun Ce, he will not dare to follow him."

Zhuge Liang expressed his thoughts.

Xiao Fang nodded slightly, quite satisfied with Zhuge Liang's performance.

This is a strategy to attack one's mind. At Zhuge Liang's age, he could come up with such an advanced strategy, which shows how talented he was.

Xiao Fang naturally agreed with his brother-in-law's evaluation of Sun Ce.

Sun's tyranny and bloodlust are hereditary.

When Sun Jian was the prefect of Changsha, he was at odds with his superior, Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou, so he found an opportunity and had the man killed.

Later, when he went north to fight Dong Zhuo, he passed through Nanyang County. Because the prefect Zhang Zi refused to lend him food, he killed him without saying a word.

Compared with his father, Sun Ce was even more murderous.

When pacifying Jiangdong, there was a bloody massacre. Those who disobeyed were killed, those who were displeased were killed, those who resisted were killed, and those who surrendered were also killed.

The most incredible thing is that when Sun Ce led his army to attack Kuaiji, the defending general Yan Baihu was frightened and sent his brother Yan Yu to ask Sun Ce for peace.

When Sun Ce met him, he picked up the iron halberd and chopped at Yan Yu without saying a word. Yan Yu instinctively shrank back in fear.

So Sun Ce mocked Yan Yu for being cowardly and incompetent, and actually killed him.

When two countries are at war, they do not kill envoys. This has been a tacit understanding passed down for hundreds or thousands of years.

What's more, Yan Yu came to you respectfully to ask for peace and did not offend you in any way. How could you, Sun Ce, kill this envoy for a nonsensical reason?

As a local lord, it is rare in ancient and modern times for him to be so bloodthirsty and brutal.

Even Cao Cao, who massacred Xuzhou with blood, once commented on Sun Ce: It is hard to compete with him!
"猘" means mad dog.

What Boss Cao meant was that Sun Ce was a bloodthirsty and violent guy, biting people like a mad dog. Even I am ashamed of myself for that.

Considering Sun Ce's bad deeds, Zhuge Liang's strategy of attacking Sun Ce's heart was not to throw dirty water on Sun Ce, but rather a kind reminder to the soldiers and civilians of Xiakou.

"If Sun Ce, this mad dog, really gets Xiakou, he might really massacre the city."

"My lord, I think this plan of Aliang is feasible."

After Xiao Fang thought about it for a while, he agreed and affirmed Zhuge Liang's suggestion.

Liu Bei adopted the idea immediately and issued orders to all the people to act separately.

On the one hand, he asked Gan Ning to persuade Su Fei to surrender, and on the other hand, he sent spies into the city to spread rumors and launch a psychological attack.

...

Xiakou City, within the county government.

Huang Zu, who was seriously injured, finally woke up after several days of treatment.

Kuai Yue, Su Fei and others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Fei was a general under Huang Zu, so he was naturally concerned about his life and death.

Kuai Yue still had to rely on Huang Zu to lead the army to defend Xiakou, so naturally he did not want to see Huang Zu die of illness.

The first thing Huang Zu did when he woke up was to ask about the battle at Chibi.

Kuai Yue and Su Fei looked at each other and hesitated in their hearts whether they should tell Huang Zu the bad news that they were defeated in Chibi and Huang She was captured.

After all, with Huang Zu’s current injuries, what if he couldn’t withstand the blow and died suddenly on the spot?
"Father, father~~"

A howling voice interrupted everyone's hesitation.

Huang She burst into the room with tears streaming down his face, and fell on Huang Zu's bed. Kuai Yue and others were all shocked to see Huang She return alive, and thought they were seeing things.

Wasn't this guy captured by Liu Bei? How could he return to Xiakou and appear in front of Huang Zu in good condition?
Several people looked at each other, their eyes were full of surprise and confusion.

Kuai Yue frowned deeply, and a sense of foreboding enveloped his whole body in an instant.

"She'er, you were not guarding the iron chain formation at Chibi, so why did you suddenly return to Xiakou?"

Huang Zu's eyes popped open, and he was so excited that he almost ignored his injuries and struggled to sit up.

Huang She cried with a sad face and sighed with shame:
"Father, Liu Bei used Xiao Fang's plan to burn through our iron chain formation with fire!"

"I fought hard but was defeated and unfortunately captured by Liu Bei."

"Liu Bei's army of land and sea is no longer blocked and has now reached the outskirts of Xiakou City."

Huang Zu's body suddenly shook, as if he had a last burst of energy, and he suddenly sat up.

"What did you say?"

"The Iron Lock Formation was broken by Liu Bei?"

"This is impossible. If the Iron Chain Formation can stop Sun Ce, how can it not stop Liu Bei?"

"This is impossible~~"

Huang Zu grabbed his son and roared and screamed.

Huang Sheze knelt on the ground, crying with despair on his face:
"Father, let me tell you the truth. This iron chain formation was not something I came up with on my own. It was taught to me by Xiao Fang."

"His purpose is only to help us stop Sun Ce and buy time for Liu Bei."

"When Xiao Fang taught his son this strategy, he had already figured out a way to break it."

"Father, our every move is under the control of Xiao Fang!"

Huang Zu froze on the couch.

His face gradually distorted, his teeth clenched, his fists clenched until they crackled, and his eyes were filled with despair, horror, and anger.

"I, Huang Zu, a famous general of my generation, was forced into a desperate situation by a mat weaver and shoe seller, and was plotted against and killed by a country bumpkin!"

"God is so unfair, God is so unfair~~"

Huang Zu cried out to the sky, and in a blink of an eye his face was covered in tears.

"Father, Liu Bei has a god-like man like Xiao Fang to assist him. If we continue to resist, it will be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot."

"The situation is over. The change of ownership of Jingzhou is inevitable. Why don't we surrender--"

Huang She was about to persuade Huang Zu to surrender, but before he could even utter the word "surrender", Huang Zu suddenly let out a painful howl.

The arrow wound on his body burst, and large amounts of blood gushed out, spraying all over Huang She's face.

"Father...Father?"

Huang She was so frightened that he stood there at a loss as to what to do.

Huang Zu grabbed his arm and said angrily with gnashing teeth:

"She'er, you have to avenge your father!"

"You must kill Liu Bei, kill Xiao Fang, and avenge your father—"

Huang Zu looked up to the sky and let out another cry of grief, then fell heavily on the couch.

After his body twitched, he froze straight on the couch, unable to move at all.

The lord of Jiangxia, the most famous general in Jingzhou, died suddenly.

"Father~~"

Huang She let out a scream of fear and rushed forward crying.

Su Fei, Deng Long and other Jiangxia generals were also in chaos and rushed forward.

Seeing Huang Zu's sudden death, Kuai Yue's face turned pale as paper. He staggered back a few steps and then fell to sit down.

"Yi Du, Huang Chengzong is dead. What should we do? What should we do?"

Liu Cong grabbed Kuai Yue's arm and asked anxiously, tears almost falling from his eyes.

The morale of the Jiangxia army was already low, and with the death of Huang Zu, they were leaderless. Wouldn't the situation in Xiakou deteriorate even further?
Liu Bei still had tens of thousands of troops outside, eyeing Xiakou City covetously. The situation was so critical, how could Liu Cong not panic?

"If Xiakou also falls into Liu Bei's hands, my Kuai family will really be finished!"

"No! This Xiakou City must not fall into Liu Bei's hands!"

Kuai Yue suddenly clenched his fists, his eyes revealing a cold determination.

As night fell, the mansion finally calmed down a little.

As Huang Zu's successor, Huang She sat on the throne with a dull look in his eyes, still immersed in the grief of Huang Zu's sudden death.

Su Fei and other generals discussed how to mourn for Huang Zu.

Some people are worried and anxious about their future fate.

Inside the palace hall, there was a lot of noise and discussion.

"We must not hold a funeral for General Huang now!"

Kuai Yue suddenly spoke in a decisive tone, interrupting everyone's discussion.

There was silence in the hall, and everyone looked at Kuai Yue.

Huang She also woke up from his trance, raised his head blankly and looked at Kuai Yue.

"Kuai Biejia, why can't we hold a funeral for General Huang?"

Su Fei frowned and asked in confusion.

Kuai Yue stood up and pointed outside the city:
"If we announce the death now, Liu Bei will know that your General Huang is seriously injured and will surely take advantage of our leaderless army to attack the city immediately!"

"So, we must keep the death a secret so that Liu Bei does not know the true situation of our city, so as to buy us enough time."

Everyone understood Kuai Yue's first sentence, but his second sentence left everyone confused.

"Kuai Biejia, forgive our stupidity, but what do you mean by buying time?"

Su Fei asked again with a suspicious look.

Kuai Yue took a deep breath, raised his hand and pointed eastward:
"Of course, we are sending people to ask for surrender from Sun Bofu, so as to buy enough time for the Jiangdong Army to reach Xiakou City!"

There was an uproar.

(End of this chapter)