Chapter 199: Evil deeds will eventually bring evil consequences! The undercover mission is over, let's show our cards! Liu Bei: Take over this royal city!

"Although the lord has only 5,000 soldiers and horses, there are dozens of wealthy families in Jinling City, big and small, and every family has 300 to 500 servants and slaves."

"My Lord, can you give an order to these great families to offer all their slaves? Are you afraid that they won't be able to gather 5,000 soldiers?"

"This is Yong's strategy!"

Gu Yong took his time and told us his plan.

As soon as this plan was put forward, everyone in the hall started discussing it, and the originally depressed and desperate atmosphere was immediately swept away.

Sun Ce's eyes lit up, and he slammed the table and said:
"Yes, why didn't I think that there is such an army available in Jinling City!"

Jinling is the heart of Jiangdong and the place where many scholars and wealthy families gather, such as the Gu family, the Lu family, the Zhu Zhang family, the Zhang family and so on.

As Gu Yong said, all these noble families have their own private soldiers and three to five hundred servants.

If these wealthy families were willing to contribute their private soldiers to serve him, wouldn't he be able to gather more than 5,000 soldiers overnight?

Moreover, these private soldiers are not just an untrained mob, they still have some combat capabilities.

If he could get these private soldiers, plus his existing 7,000 or so regular troops, a total of about 10,000 soldiers and horses, would he still be afraid that he would not be able to defend the inner city of Nanjing?

Veins bulged on Sun Ce's forehead, and a ray of light suddenly appeared in his eyes.

"Yuan Tan, your idea is good, but are the wealthy families in Jinling City willing to offer their servants and servants to help the lord defend the city?"

"After all, when the lord conquered Jiangdong, ahem..."

Zhang Zhao coughed a few times but didn't finish his words.

Sun Ce's brows, which had just relaxed, immediately frowned again.

He understood what Zhang Zhao meant. It simply meant that when he pacified Jiangdong, he killed too many Jiangdong heroes and incurred too many blood debts.

Now that you are at the end of your rope, people don't take advantage of you, and are happy enough to watch you having fun. Will they even offer you their slaves to help you defend the city?
"There are many Jiangdong nobles serving as officials under the lord. They share the lord's prosperity and adversity. How can we sit back and watch the lord in trouble without helping him?"

"We, the Gu clan, are willing to take the lead and offer four hundred servants to await the Lord's orders!"

Gu Yong bowed and expressed his attitude generously.

Sun Ce's spirits perked up, the light of hope surged in his eyes again, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang, the Gu family is the leader of the four Jiangdong families. What influence does it have among the various powerful and influential families!

Gu Yong was willing to take the lead in offering his family soldiers to help. How could other powerful families, big and small, not follow suit?
"Very good, very good!"

The gloom on Sun Ce's face disappeared, and without caring about his injuries, he stood up, strode down the stairs and came to Gu Yong.

"With your words, Gu Yuantai, I feel relieved."

"If I can get the help of you Jiangdong nobles, I can defend Jinling and drive away the big-eared thieves without any problem!"

"Gu Yuan sighed, if that day really comes, you, Gu Yong, will be the number one meritorious official of our Sun family!"

"This Jiangdong foundation will be shared by me, Sun Ce, and your Gu family!"

Sun Ce was ecstatic. He patted Gu Yong on the shoulder and praised him, and made a huge promise.

Gu Yong was flattered and hurriedly thanked him, expressing his loyalty and gratitude.

Sun Ce did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately issued an order, ordering Gu Yong to be fully responsible for calling on the wealthy families in the city to donate troops to help in the war.

The plan was thus decided, and the military meeting was disbanded.

When Gu Yong and Lu Xun walked out of the lobby, they looked at each other secretly, with a knowing sneer flashing in their eyes.

...

The outer city of Jinling, Liu Jun’s camp.

Inside the Chinese military tent.

Lu Su had already drawn a defense map for the inner city of Jinling.

Liu Bei, with a group of counselors and generals, gathered around the defense map to discuss and give advice.

"Jinling is bordered by the Yangtze River to the north, Zhongshan Mountain to the east, and Qingliang Mountain to the south. It is truly a place of great beauty and beauty."

“No wonder when Qin Shi Huang visited Jiangdong, he saw that this city had the aura of a king, so he ordered the hills to be dug up and the city’s name to be changed to Moling to cut off its aura.”

"Sun Ce's choice of this city as his seat of government is indeed a wise decision."

Liu Bei looked at the terrain of Jinling and couldn't help but sigh.

Everyone said yes.

Only Xiao Fang said nothing and just smiled.

It is true that Nanjing is a place where tigers and dragons crouch, and it is also true that it has the aura of a king. Unfortunately, the dynasties that established their capital here were either confined to a corner or short-lived.

This trend was probably started by the Sun family.

"According to the topographic map drawn by Zijing, the inner city of Jinling is indeed dangerous and can be called the strongest city in the world."

"If Sun Ce resists to the end, if we want to attack by force, it will take at least three to five months, with five to six thousand casualties, and we may not be able to capture the city."

Huang Zhong frowned, and his words lacked the previous optimism.

For a moment, everyone was talking about it, all thinking about how to take over the inner city of Jinling in the shortest time with the least sacrifice.

I've been thinking about it over and over again, but there's no perfect solution.

Just when they were unable to come to a conclusion, Chen Dao came hurriedly and presented a secret letter to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei took it and saw that it was the secret letter sent by Lu Xun. He quickly signaled to Xiao Fang with his eyes and handed the secret letter to him.

"If it goes as expected, the lord will have the opportunity to quickly break through the inner city of Jinling without spending a single soldier."

There was something meaningful in Xiao's dialect. He slowly opened the coded letter and began to translate "Zuo Zhuan".

Liu Bei and the others were shocked and immediately quieted down. Everyone's eyes turned to Xiao Fang with curiosity.

They recalled that when Lu Su surrendered the day before, he said that Nanjing City was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Their military advisor said that maybe Nanjing City could be taken without a fight.

When Liu Bei asked Xiao Fang what brilliant plan he had, Xiao Fang did not answer, but only said that the result would be clear in a few days.

Today, we suddenly received a secret letter. Xiao Fang brought up the old story again, which naturally aroused everyone's curiosity and instantly raised their expectations.

After a moment, the coded letter was translated.

After reading the letter, Xiao Fang couldn't help laughing, so he handed the letter to Chen Dao and asked him to read it out in public.

"military adviser!"

Liu Bei was slightly surprised and quickly reminded him.

In order to protect Lu Xun's undercover identity, the two had previously agreed not to reveal the letter to a third person. If they read the letter out in public now, wouldn't that expose Lu Xun's identity?

"Tonight will be the final battle, and Boyan's mission will be accomplished. There is no need to hide it any longer."

Xiao Fang answered meaningfully.

The final battle!
Hearing these four words, Old Liu became alert and suddenly realized something, so he stopped trying to stop Chen Dao.

So Chen Dao took the letter and read it aloud in public.

In the letter, Lu Xun claimed that Gu Yong, under the pretext of offering advice to Sun Ce, had sent private soldiers from the noble families in Jinling to help in the war, and had legitimately gathered servants and slaves from various households, and had already obtained nearly 5,000 soldiers and horses.

Tonight, these anti-Sun heroes will seize the inner city gate, welcome Liu Bei's army to charge in, and take down Jinling in one fell swoop.

There was an uproar and surprise in the big tent.

Wasn't it this Lu Xun who, during the Battle of Eshan, went to the north bank to offer Sun Ce the plan of chaining the boats together, hoping to help Zhou Yu burn all their warships?

How come he suddenly came here without any warning?
Right under Sun Ce's eyes, he organized 5,000 private soldiers and wanted to seize the city gate and let their army into the city?

Everyone was surprised and confused, and there was a lot of discussion.

Liu Bei suddenly realized and said in surprise:
"The military advisor said before that I can easily break through the inner city of Jinling without fighting!"

"Could it be that the military advisor has already predicted that the heroes in the city, such as Gu Lu, will raise an army to help me capture the city?"

Xiao Fang smiled, gently waving his feather fan and said slowly:
"My lord, all you need to conquer Jinling and take over Jiangdong is the gate in the inner city."

"For those Jiangdong heroes, seizing the city and surrendering it is their last chance to ask for credit from their lord. How could they miss it?"

"Furthermore, Sun Ce suffered a defeat the day before yesterday, and all of his 10,000 elite soldiers were killed or wounded. He only had less than 5,000 new soldiers left, which was not enough to suppress the power of the powerful families in the city."

"This reversal of power naturally gave them the confidence to rise up and resist Sun Ce."

"As long as we understand these two points, it is not difficult to deduce that Bo Yan and his men will definitely raise an army and help the Lord to take over Jinling without any effort."

Lao Liu suddenly realized.

Huang Zhong and other generals also came to their senses.

There was a sudden burst of exclamations in the tent, and everyone was impressed by Xiao Fang's foresight.

"No wonder Military Advisor Xiao dared to claim that he could quickly conquer Jinling without any effort. It turns out that he has already seen through the people's hearts and minds in the city!"

"Su, today, I finally witnessed the amazing foresight of Military Advisor Xiao with my own eyes!"

After Lu Su was impressed, he became suspicious and said:
"But there is one thing I don't understand. From what the Lord and Military Advisor Xiao said, it seems that Lu Boyan has secretly submitted to the Lord, but I don't know when?"

"Su guessed, could it be after the lord killed Yuan Shu?"

Lu Su's guess was nodded in approval by everyone.

In their view, only after Liu Bei defeated the Huainan army and killed Yuan Shu did it mean that Sun Ce's external aid was cut off and he was completely at the end of his rope.

According to common sense, it would be reasonable for Lu Xun to surrender secretly at that time.

Liu Bei laughed, stroked his beard and said:
"Zi Jing guessed wrong. In fact, as early as the battle of Eshan, Boyan had already submitted to me."

The Battle of Eshan?
Lu Su was shocked.

At that time, Sun Ce had just failed in the battle for Jingzhou. Although he had suffered a heavy blow, he still had some strength.

Chaisang is still there, and he still has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. A large number of brave generals such as Han Dang have not yet fallen.

At that time, Sun Ce showed no signs of defeat at all.

Had Lu Xun secretly defected as early as that time?

Lu Su's face was full of disbelief.

Liu Bei had nothing to hide, so he disclosed the secret that when Sun Ce retreated that day, Lu Xun secretly returned to Fankou to express his willingness to submit to him and was willing to act as an insider.

Lu Su suddenly understood.

Only then did he understand why Liu Bei knew all the secrets of Sun Ce's army.

It turns out that in addition to Xiao Fang's brilliant strategy, Lu Xun's secret intelligence was also indispensable.

"When Sun Ce's fire attack plan failed, he was unwilling to believe that it was Military Advisor Xiao who saw through the plan. He blamed it on a traitor in the army who leaked the secrets and almost killed Lu Boyan on the spot."

"I think it was that incident that frightened Boyan and made him turn against the Lord."

"It seems that Sun Ce's defeat today is the result of his own evil deeds."

After Lu Su sighed with emotion, he bowed to Liu Bei:

"Sun Ce only advocates killing and force, but he does not know that the support of the people can also determine life and death."

"My lord, before he even went to Jiangdong, he had already won the hearts of the heroes of Jiangdong. He defeated Sun Ce and took control of the Yangtze River. This was truly God's will!"

Liu Bei's heroic spirit was aroused, and he immediately stood up.

He swept his eyes around the generals with high spirits and shouted happily:
"All generals, listen up. Gather the army tonight. We will break through the inner city and completely capture Jinling!"

(End of this chapter)