Chapter 157: Zhuge family does not support idle people! This Xiao Fang is really not a human! The two disabled people are blaming each other, who betrayed me?
Old Liu naturally knew very well how powerful Gan Ning was.

He killed Cai Mao, executed Huang Zu, and swept across Jingzhou without anyone being able to defeat him.

In today's battle, Huang Gai was captured alive and Zhou Yu's 20,000 navy was defeated. It is no exaggeration to say that he was the main contributor in the confrontation between Liu and Sun.

Xiao Fang actually asserted that Ling Cao's son Ling Tong was comparable to Gan Ning. How could he not be impressed?

As for what Xiao Fang said about laying a secret plan for conquering Jiangdong, it aroused Liu Bei's interest even more.

"I wonder how Jinglue plans to make this move, and how you plan to subdue the Ling family father and son?"

Liu Bei couldn't wait to ask.

"Let Ling Cao go back to the south bank."

Xiao Fang simply gave an answer of six words.

Liu Bei was stunned and his eyes became confused.

Since he wanted to subdue Ling Cao, why did he let Ling Cao return to Sun Ce? Isn't that like letting a tiger return to the mountains, which goes against the purpose of surrender?
Besides, what does letting Ling Cao go have to do with laying a hidden chess chess piece?

"Military advisor, I don't quite understand. Please explain."

Liu Bei failed to understand Xiao Fang's profound meaning, so he had to ask again.

Xiao Fang didn't rush to answer, but glanced at the two Zhuge brothers and Xu Shu.

That look seemed to be saying, this opportunity to show off is given to you, if anyone of you knows anything, just tell me quickly.

Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu frowned slightly, deep in thought, unable to comprehend the meaning for a moment.

Zhuge Jin's eyes moved slightly, as if he wanted to speak, but he hesitated.

Apparently, this newly surrendered brother-in-law was still a little nervous about being Lao Liu's subject and did not dare to express his opinions rashly.

"Brother, what do you think is Fang's intention in doing this? Why don't you tell me?"

Xiao Fang intended to let Zhuge Jin perform in front of Old Liu.

After all, he was also the tiger of the Zhuge clan, and in history, he was one of the people who held the high position of general in the Eastern Wu.

He had to find an opportunity to let Old Liu see his qualifications. Otherwise, the fact that he was deceived by Huang Gai would only make Old Liu underestimate him and mistakenly believe that he had no strengths other than being loyal and honest.

"From what Jin knows about Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, they are indeed outstanding talents of the time, but they are too arrogant and seem to be self-admiring."

"Especially Sun Ce, although he looks open-minded on the surface, he is actually very suspicious."

"There are many heroes in Jiangdong who have already pledged allegiance to Sun Ce, but he turned against them because of some trivial suspicions."

"Now that they have suffered such a disastrous defeat, they are most likely unwilling to believe that their plot was discovered by their brother-in-law. They are very likely to blame it on someone secretly communicating with the lord and leaking his secrets."

"At this time, the lord captured Ling Cao alive, but neither killed him nor asked him to surrender. Instead, he released him back to the south bank."

"With Sun Ce's personality, how could he not be suspicious of Ling Cao after such an abnormal behavior?"

"Given Ling Cao's understanding of Sun Ce's character, once he knew that Sun Ce was suspicious of him, would he still dare to serve Sun Ce wholeheartedly?"

Zhuge Jin spoke eloquently and analyzed the personalities of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

Then he smiled at Xiao Fang and said self-deprecatingly:
"I guess that this should be the deep meaning behind your brother-in-law's decision to release Ling Cao. I don't know if this is right or wrong, just guessing randomly."

Xiao Fang nodded slightly.

As expected, he is worthy of being the eldest brother of the Zhuge family. His insights into Sun Ce and Zhou Yu alone are enough to make him worthy of the title of Zhuge Tiger.

As for being deceived by Huang Gai before, it can only be said that Zhou Yu's plan was too perfect, and it is no wonder that Zhuge Jin's wisdom and strategy were mediocre.

"My lord, what my brother said is exactly what Fang meant."

Xiao Fang nodded in approval and looked at Liu Bei.

Old Liu suddenly realized and praised:
"Military advisor, this plan kills two birds with one stone."

"Zi Yu is able to comprehend the military advisor's profound meaning, which is truly extraordinary. The people around the military advisor are indeed all talented people in the world."

Old Liu began to look at Zhuge Jin with a new respect.

So he adopted Xiao Fang's plan, treated Ling Cao with courtesy and released him to the south bank, while preparing to cross the river and attack Fankou.

...

South bank, Fankou Water Camp.

The surviving Jiangdong warships rushed into the water camp like frightened birds.

The surviving Jiangdong soldiers rushed to get off the boats and escape to the water camp.

Lu Su and Lu Xun were both stunned and dumbfounded when they saw their own army returning in defeat.

"Brother Zijing, the commander-in-chief... has he been defeated?"

Lu Xun's voice was hoarse. He turned his head tremblingly and looked at Lu Su in disbelief.

Lu Su's eyes were also filled with surprise and confusion, and he said in a trembling voice:
"It seems that Gongjin has indeed lost this battle."

"But Huang Gongfu's false surrender was clearly successful, and the fire ships were also released. Why did our army suffer such a disastrous defeat?"

The two looked at each other, with extreme confusion in their eyes.

at this time.

Jia Hua ordered the soldiers to carry Zhou Yu, who had a broken leg, off the boat, and ordered the medical officers to come and treat him.

Lu Su and Lu Xun hurried forward, and when they saw Zhou Yu's miserable condition, they all gasped and shuddered.

"Gong...Gongjin, why are you injured like this?"

"Our army...how could our army suffer such a crushing defeat?"

"What exactly is going on?"

Zhou Yu's face turned red and his forehead was covered with sweat. He was in both mental and physical pain.

Lu Su's question was like pouring salt into Zhou Yu's wound, which instantly hurt him and made him feel depressed.

With a "wuuu" sound, a trace of blood appeared at the corner of Zhou Yu's mouth.

Lu Su was so shocked that he dared not ask any more questions. He hurriedly carried Zhou Yu into the tent to treat him.

Doctors came in and out, treating Zhou Yu's leg injury and vomiting blood.

Only then did Lu Su and Lu Xun learn the whole story of the defeat from Jia Hua.

"It must be Liu Bei who saw through General Huang's false surrender and intercepted General Huang and the grain ship. He then lit a fake fire on the shore to lure the governor to lead his army to attack."

"But Liu Bei had already moved his warships out of the water camp and ambushed them on both wings, so that he could attack us from three sides and inflict heavy damage on our army."

"Brother Zijing, the governor's plan must have been discovered by Xiao Fang!"

Lu Xun was slightly better than Lu Su in terms of intelligence and strategy, and he figured out the truth at the first opportunity.

Lu Su suddenly realized it, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he said in shock:

"Gongjin's plan is flawless. Even I can't find any flaws. How could it be seen through by Xiao Fang?" "If that's true, this man's wisdom is really... really..."

Lu Su was so emotional that he couldn't find the right words to describe the shock in his heart.

Just as the two were shocked and stunned, there was another commotion towards the river bank.

"The lord is back, the lord is back!"

The screams of the soldiers soon came again.

Lu Su and Lu Xun looked at each other, and they hurriedly rushed towards the water camp.

really.

Upstream, the fleet led by Sun Ce fled back to the water camp in a somewhat "despicable" manner, sticking to the south bank.

There were more than 500 warships coming, but only less than 300 returned.

The soldiers who got off the boat were all wearing red and decorated with ribbons, looking dejected. Their number was less than half of the number when they set out.

Obviously, Sun Ce's troops, like Zhou Yu's, also suffered a great defeat.

Lu Su and Lu Xun's expressions changed again, and they looked at each other in surprise.

It would have been fine if Zhou Yu's troops had suffered a great defeat, after all, Liu Bei was well prepared and killed Zhou Yu by surprise.

How come Sun Ce's troops suffered such a disastrous defeat?

The two of them were puzzled.

"Where is the doctor?"

"The lord has been shot by an arrow, come and treat him quickly!"

Chen Wu's scream of shock interrupted the two men's daze.

Sun Ce was seen with half his body covered in blood and a sharp arrow stuck in his shoulder. He was being carried over in a hurry by Chen Wu and his bodyguards.

"The Lord is also injured?"

Lu Su and Lu Xun exclaimed in unison, their faces turning pale with horror.

Over half of the 40,000-man army was lost overnight, Huang Gai's life or death was unknown, and Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were injured one after another.

The sudden change happened too suddenly. Even with their strong composure, they were now in a state of panic.

It was not until Chen Wu carried Sun Ce and ran past them that the two men recovered and hurriedly chased after him.

So, the two learned from Chen Wu how Sun Ce was ambushed by Liu Jun in Xinjin, how he was defeated by Huang Zhong, and how Ling Cao was captured by Huang Zhong...

"Not only did the old man Huang Zhong shoot and injure the lord, he also admitted that their military advisor Xiao Fang had already seen through Governor Zhou's plan!"

"How hateful! Sooner or later I will kill that old man and avenge my master~~"

Chen Wu gritted his teeth, still immersed in the anger of Sun Ce being injured.

Lu Su and Lu Xun looked at each other and fell into silence.

The truth is out.

All the tricks of self-torture, false surrender, chain of tricks, and fire attack were nothing but child's play in Xiao Fang's eyes and he saw through them at a glance.

Liu Bei and Xiao Fang watched these Jiangdong people jumping up and down and performing all kinds of clever shows as if they were clowns.

In the end, I will take advantage of your trick and wait for you to come to me, then I will deal a fatal blow to you with ambushes from two directions.

"This Xiao Jinglue is really not a human being!"

After a long silence, Lu Su and Lu Xun unexpectedly expressed the same sentiment at the same time.

The two of them looked up suddenly, looked at each other, shook their heads and let out a bitter laugh.

...

At daybreak, the chaos in the water camp was finally restored.

Inside the Chinese army's tent.

Zhou Yu, who had a broken leg, and Sun Ce, who had been shot by an arrow, finally sat together.

"Gongjin, we have been defeated to such an extent, you must give me an explanation!"

Sun Ce's face was gloomy, his eyes shot towards Zhou Yu like a knife, and his tone was full of questioning and complaints.

Zhou Yu's heart trembled slightly, and a feeling of shame arose spontaneously.

Countless pairs of eyes from the generals in the tent were staring at him, waiting for him to admit that he had miscalculated and was being fooled by Xiao Fang again.

That look made Zhou Yu feel uneasy.

He knew that if he admitted it, he would lose all his face and prestige.

Even if Sun Ce could forgive his miscalculation, he would not use him again.

After secretly gritting his teeth, Zhou Yu cast his gaze towards the generals and said in a deep voice:

"Bo Fu, you know how perfect my plan is."

"Even if Xiao Fang is very clever, unless he has opened his eyes, he will never be able to see through it."

"I guess there must be a traitor in my army who is secretly in contact with Liu Bei and leaked our strategy to Liu Bei!"

These words hit the mark exactly what Sun Ce wanted.

Sun Ce's sharp gaze turned from Zhou Yu to all the generals present.

All the generals suddenly became nervous and held their breath, not daring to even breathe.

"Who betrayed me and secretly connected with the big-eared thief?"

Sun Ce slammed the table and asked in a stern voice.

No one said a word.

Who would be so stupid? Even if someone really had secret contact with Liu Bei, he would not admit it.

Sun Ce slowly stood up, and with the support of Chen Wu, he walked past the generals step by step, his eyes so sharp that it seemed as if he could see through their hearts.

Finally, Sun Ce stopped in front of Lu Xun.

Lu Xun's heart rose to his throat and he immediately became nervous, but he could only pretend to be calm.

"brush!"

Sun Ce suddenly drew his sword, pointed the tip of the sword directly at Lu Xun's face, and shouted sternly:

"Lu Xun, are you resentful that I forced your uncle to death, so you secretly contacted Liu Bei and leaked Gongjin's plan?"

(End of this chapter)