Chapter 176 I will kill Zhou Yu! The people are human beings, not straw dogs! Want to win? You think too much!

Liu Bei suddenly realized and tightened his whip:
"The Zhou family is also a famous family in Huainan, and the people of Hulin are Sun Ce's subjects. How could Zhou Yu resort to such vicious means to deal with his own people?"

Xiao Fang could see that Old Liu was extremely shocked and angry at Zhou Yu's vicious plan.

When fighting for the world, it is impossible not to harm innocent people.

Even though Old Liu was kind and generous, he never dared to make a guarantee or boast that he had never harmed a single civilian during his conquests.

But Lao Liu has a bottom line after all. He will never sacrifice his own people. No matter how sharp the blade is, it must be pointed outward.

Zhou Yu actually turned his blade against his own people. This action completely exceeded Lao Liu's bottom line and naturally made him very shocked and angry.

"Most of the princes in the world treat the people as straw dogs. After all, there are only a few who can treat the people as human beings like you do."

"Zhou Yu lost Chaisang, was ignored by Sun Ce, and hated by the generals of Jiangdong. He was at the end of his rope."

"In order to regain Sun Ce's trust, he will naturally do whatever it takes."

"As for the lives of a few civilians, they are of no importance in his eyes."

Xiao Fang revealed Zhou Yu's motives.

Liu Bei was silent.

After a moment, a murderous intent flashed across his eyes, and he said in a deep voice:
"After the city is captured, I will accept anyone who surrenders, except Zhou Yu, whom I will kill!"

The generals on both sides were slightly surprised.

Everyone knows that Lao Liu has always been courteous and kind to others.

Even enemies, unless they have committed extremely heinous crimes, are rarely killed.

With such a talent like Zhou Yu, given Old Liu's original personality, the first thing he would think of is to recruit him under his command and use him.

But this time, he had no intention of cherishing Zhou Yu's talent and directly announced Zhou Yu's death sentence.

It can be seen that Zhou Yu's vicious plan did indeed anger Old Liu and touch his reverse scale.

"Brother, shall we still attack Hulin City?"

Zhang Fei asked, scratching the back of his head.

Liu Bei glanced at the top of the city wall, put away his murderous intent, and sighed:

"Zhou Yu is using the people of the city as shields. If I attack with all my might, even if I break the city, the people of the city will die."

"Forget it, let's withdraw our troops and return to the camp to discuss the long-term plan."

Zhang Fei's face was full of reluctance, but he didn't dare to go against Lao Liu's wishes, so he could only grit his teeth in hatred.

The gong sounded.

The aggressive Liu army soldiers had to return empty-handed and slowly retreated back to the camp.

On top of the West Gate Tower.

The men, women, young and old in Hulin are still trembling with fear and at a loss as to what to do.

The thousands of Jiangdong soldiers defending the city were all nervous and sweaty in their palms, fearing that Liu's army would launch a large-scale attack and raze them and the city to the ground.

What surprised them was that after Liu’s army had been in battle array for a long time, they retreated without fighting!
After a moment's silence, cheers of survivors were heard from the city walls.

"Commander-in-chief, Liu Bei actually withdrew his troops?"

"Even if we drive the civilians to the top of the city to help in the battle, we will only add a few thousand more rabble."

"So Liu Bei was frightened and didn't dare to attack the city?"

Chen Wu looked back at Zhou Yu in ecstasy, his face full of incredible excitement.

Zhou Yu also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His clenched palms, which had been stained with sweat, loosened quietly, and a sarcastic sneer appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Liu Bei prides himself on being benevolent and righteous, and he has always been lenient and kind to the people under his rule."

"But this benevolence and righteousness is a double-edged sword. Although it can win people's hearts, it can also be a shackle at certain times."

"I have sent the people of Hulin to the city to help. If Liu Bei dares to attack by force, he will kill all these thousands of people. Even if he takes Hulin, his reputation as a benevolent and righteous man will be damaged."

"So, Zilie, do you understand?"

Zhou Yu stopped at that point and did not speak out directly.

Chen Wu rolled his eyes a few times and suddenly realized what was going on.

It turned out that Governor Zhou had grasped Liu Bei's temperament and used the people in the city as human shields, making Liu Bei hesitant and afraid to attack the city.

The common people, in name only, were united as one with the army and civilians, and they went up to the city walls to help in the battle, but in reality, they were acting as Zhou Yu's shield invisibly!
"No wonder the governor dared to declare to the lord that he could defend Hulin City with only 3,000 soldiers and horses."

"It turns out that the governor had already thought of a plan to ward off the enemy!"

Chen Wu praised loudly, but then changed the subject:
"But the people of this city are Jiangdong people after all. The governor is using this as a shield. If this gets out, wouldn't it be detrimental to the lord and the governor..."

Chen Wu coughed a few times and didn't say anything else.

Zhou Yu could naturally hear what he wanted to say, but his expression was cold and he did not show any guilt at all.

"If Hulin is lost, Jiangdong will be in danger, and the foundation that Bofu has worked so hard to build will be reduced to ashes!"

"Compared with Bo Fu's legacy, what are those illusory so-called reputations?"

Chen Wu's body shook slightly.

Zhou Yu looked at the retreating Liu Jun and said proudly:

"As the saying goes, the victors take it all. As long as we hold on to Hulin and Bofu achieves his hegemony in the future, no one will remember what we did today!"

"For Bofu's ambition, I, Zhou Yu, can even risk my life, so why would I care about a mere reputation!"

Chen Wu suddenly realized, and a look of determination appeared on his face:

"The governor is right. Compared with the hegemony of our lord, our reputation is nothing, and the lives of the people in this city are nothing."

"With such a brilliant plan from the governor, we can definitely defend Hulin City!"

Zhou Yu's eyes shot towards the flag with the word "Liu" on it, and a long-lost confident sneer appeared on his face.

"Xiao Fang, no matter how smart you are, what can you do about my plan?"

"I've lost to you so many times, this time, I can finally win..."

…At nightfall, in the central military camp of Liu’s camp.

Arguments arose one after another.

The generals each offered their own suggestions and debated how to capture Hulin City.

But after arguing for a long time, no matter which method is used, it is impossible to avoid a key problem:
How to avoid harming the thousands of civilians who were taken hostage!

After discussing for a while, the tent gradually became quiet, and all the generals lost their confidence.

"It's not that difficult to capture Hulin in advance without hurting the people."

Xiao Fang, who had been leisurely sipping tea, suddenly broke the silence with a few words.

The originally dormant emotions suddenly began to boil again.

"Does the military advisor have a good plan to achieve the best of both worlds?"

Liu Bei's eyes brightened and he looked at Xiao Fang with joy.

Everyone's eyes were also focused on him.

"Zhou Yu deployed 3,000 soldiers and all the civilians in the city on the four walls, so Hulin City must be empty."

"Why don't we dig a tunnel directly into the city, seize the gate from the inside by surprise, and let our army enter the city?"

"In this way, my lord will be able to capture Hulin without a violent attack, and naturally there is no need to worry about hurting the people."

Xiao Fang played with the tea bowl and told the plan to others.

The eyes that were originally bright gradually dimmed.

Everyone's appetite was whetted and their anticipation was high, thinking that their wise military advisor Xiao would most likely come up with another fantastic and brilliant plan.

But unexpectedly, it was just an underground plan.

"My dear military advisor, I thought it was some brilliant plan, but it turned out to be just an underground plan."

"Such an ordinary plan is not in line with your identity as the reincarnation of the sage~~"

Zhang Fei was outspoken and started complaining without restraint.

"Wide!"

Liu Bei glared at Zhang Fei and stopped him from talking nonsense.

Then he turned to Xiao Fang, coughed dryly and said:

"Zhou Yu drove all the soldiers and civilians in the city to the four city walls. The city was empty, which was also true."

"But the military advisor has always said that Zhou Yu is extremely intelligent and is the best strategist of the time."

"Then given Zhou Yu's wisdom and ability to command an army, I am only worried that he might be on guard against us secretly digging a tunnel into the city."

The generals nodded slightly. It was obvious that what Lao Liu said was also what they were worried about.

"If Zhou Yu wanted to prevent our army from secretly digging tunnels, he would have buried water tanks around the city to monitor the sound of digging tunnels under the city wall."

"With Zhou Yu's wisdom, he should be able to think of this."

At this point, Zhuge Liang changed the subject and said:

"Brother-in-law knows Zhou Yu very well. How could he not know that with Zhou Yu's wisdom, he would definitely prevent us from secretly digging a tunnel into the city."

"In this case, my brother-in-law still proposed this underground plan."

"Let me make a bold guess. Could it be that my brother-in-law's underground plan is different from the ordinary underground plans and has another mystery?"

Xiao Fang smiled.

After all, my brother-in-law is Wolong. Most people can only see the second floor, but he can at least see the fourth floor.

"Aliang is right. My underground tunnel plan is indeed slightly different from the underground tunnel plan that the lord knows."

Xiao Fang nodded slightly, agreeing with Zhuge Liang's guess.

Liu Bei and his generals were cheered up, and a strong sense of anticipation welled up in their eyes again.

"Military Advisor, what's the difference between these tunnels? Aren't they all dug underground?"

"Can you fly up to the sky and dig this tunnel?"

Zhang Fei's eyes widened like copper and he shouted in confusion.

Xiao Fang smiled and said:

"Of course, I can't dig this tunnel in the sky."

"However, my method of digging the tunnel is a little different. It will prevent Zhou Yu from detecting it."

Zhang Fei was stunned.

Be it Old Liu or the other generals, they all looked bewildered.

Even Zhuge Liang narrowed his eyes, his look revealing suspicion and confusion.

To dig a tunnel, one has to carry out earthwork underground and dig out a passage from under the city wall.

Then how could it be possible that your pickaxe and shovel didn't make any noise when you swung them? If there was any noise, how could Zhou Yu not notice it?

"Military Advisor, you have confused me again."

"We can't dig with our hands when we're digging a tunnel. This is the only way to avoid any noise."

"But if we dig by hand, it will take us forever."

Zhang Fei couldn't help but shout and question again.

Xiao Fang put down the tea bowl, waved his feather fan, and said with a smile:

"Of course we can't dig this tunnel with our bare hands, but when we dig the tunnel, we can..."

At that moment, Xiao Fang calmly explained the plan one by one.

There was an immediate uproar in the big tent.

(End of this chapter)