Chapter 251 It's time for him to sacrifice himself and prove his loyalty! This time, Lu Bu won't be able to escape!

Abandon the city and break out!

These four words were like a knife, piercing Lu Bu's heart.

Chen Gong was bringing up old matters again, and he brought out the so-called "best strategy" he had offered that day.

If it was before Liu Bei flooded Shouchun, Lu Bu would definitely oppose it.

But now, he fell silent.

Neither rejected nor accepted.

"The collapse of the soldiers' morale is inevitable. Even if Marquis Wen uses the collective responsibility method to suppress the soldiers' escape, it is still impossible to arouse their fighting spirit."

"As long as the flood recedes, when Liu Bei attacks the city, these soldiers will give up resistance and defect."

"By then, not only will Shouchun be lost, but we will also lose the chance to break out."

"Whether it's Marquis Wen or the rest of us, we will all die at Liu Bei's hands, without a burial place!"

Every word Chen Gong spoke was like a bucket of cold water, mercilessly poured on Lu Bu's head.

Lu Bu said nothing, shivers broke out one after another, and in an instant he was chilled to the bone by Chen Gong's chill.

"Now, while the army has not yet collapsed, and while the water level has receded, and Liu Bei has not yet re-sieged the city, we still have a chance to successfully break out and head north to join Yuan Shao."

"As long as Wen Hou endures the humiliation and finds an opportunity in the future, there will be hope for a comeback."

"Even if it's just a glimmer of hope, it's still a thousand times better than dying under Liu Bei's sword and losing your reputation, right?"

After analyzing the pros and cons, Chen Gong stood up and bowed solemnly to Lu Bu, saying in an almost pleading tone:
"Marquis Wen, this is a matter of life and death. This is definitely not the time to act rashly!"

"Please, Lord Wen, put the overall situation first and lead us to break through."

"Whether it's Yanzhou or Xuzhou, as long as we are alive, Gong has the confidence to help Marquis Wen rise again."

"This time is no exception!"

"Please, Lord Wen, you must trust Gong!"

At this time.

The generals in the hall dared not remain silent any longer. They all stood up, knelt down, and begged Lu Bu to abandon the city and break out.

"If Wen Hou decides to break out, Shun will risk his life to carve out a bloody path for Wen Hou!"

Gao Shun also stood up and expressed his opinion.

Lu Bu's hesitation, his unwillingness, and his worries were gradually destroyed by the generals' repeated pleas.

"Forget it, forget it. It's not like I haven't endured humiliation and endured heavy burdens before."

"It's just living under someone else's roof and having to look at someone else's face. What's the big deal?"

Lu Bu raised his head to the sky and sighed bitterly, then waved his hands helplessly:

"Gongtai, as you requested, you should quickly make preparations and abandon the city and break out once the flood recedes!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as if they had grasped a life-saving straw, and felt relieved from a heavy burden.

So all the generals happily took their leave.

In a blink of an eye, the hall was empty.

Lu Bu grabbed the wine jug and was about to drink it all in one gulp to drown his sorrows, but when he looked up he found that Chen Gong had not left yet.

"Gongtai, I have already granted your request and will lead you to abandon the city and break out. What else do you want?"

Lu Bu looked towards Chen Gong with some impatience.

Chen Gong came closer and lowered his voice:

"Gong stayed behind to discuss with Marquis Wen about where to break out."

Lu Bu took a sip of wine and said disapprovingly:

"Where else can I break out? Huainan is adjacent to Xuzhou, so I will naturally break out from the east gate and go to Xuzhou to seek refuge with Yuan Tan, the eldest son of the Yuan family."

Chen Gong frowned and said in a deep voice:
"With Xiao Fang's wisdom, he must have seen that our army has reached the end of its rope. Abandoning the city and breaking out is the only option."

"With his wisdom, he must have figured out that we need to break out from the east gate and go to Xuzhou to join Yuan Tan."

"Marquis Wen, think about it. If he advises Liu Bei to deploy heavy troops east of Shouchun in advance and wait for us to fall into his trap, can we still break out?"

Lu Bu's body started to shudder, he put down his wine glass abruptly, sat up straight, and looked at Chen Gong in surprise.

"Gongtai, since you were sure that Xiao Fang would guess that we were going to break out and would ask the big-eared thief to deploy heavy troops to stop us, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Then why are you still trying to persuade me to break out? Aren't you trying to get me to my death?"

Lu Bu frowned and complained to Chen Gong.

Chen Gong did not say anything, and let Lu Bu finish his complaints before a sinister smile with ulterior motives appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Don't worry, Lord Wen. What Gong just said about breaking through was just for the generals to hear. What Gong is going to tell you now is the real strategy for breaking through."

Lu Bu was stunned, the resentment on his face turned into confusion, and he looked at Chen Gong in confusion.

He obviously failed to hear the hidden meaning in Chen Gong's words.

"According to common sense, even if we break out, we should break out from the east gate so that we can go to Xuzhou and surrender to Yuan Tan."

"Then Xiao Fangze will definitely ask Liu Bei to station his heavy troops east of Shouchun to prevent our army from breaking out."

"Then we will do the opposite and break out from the north gate. When the enemy's forces in the north are weak, we will break through the siege in one fell swoop and capture their camp on the south bank of the Huai River."

"Then we can seize their warships and quickly cross to the north bank of the Huai River before Liu Bei can react, and head to Guandu to join Yuan Shao."

"By the time Liu Bei leads his main force to pursue us, we will have already landed on the north bank. It's like a trapped dragon in the sea and a flying bird out of a cage!"

Chen Gong stroked his thin beard and proudly presented his brilliant plan, his confidence in commanding the whole army rekindled between his brows.

Lu Bu jumped up, rushed to the map, and examined it carefully.

After a while, the worry and resentment on his face gradually faded, and a long-lost smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Gongtai, you are the one who has foresight and foresight." "With you, I have no worries about not being able to break through the siege and rise again in the future!"

Lu Bu patted Chen Gong on the shoulder and praised him, as if he had forgotten his previous cold attitude.

Chen Gong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but said in a serious tone:

"But Gong's plan may require the sacrifice of a loyal and brave general and thousands of soldiers."

The smile on Lu Bu's face disappeared, and his eyes became blank again.

Chen Gong took a deep breath and said silently:

"In order to delay Liu Bei's reinforcement of the north gate, Wen Hou must use a trick against him and send a general to lead thousands of soldiers to break out to the east at all costs to attract Liu Bei to encircle him."

"Marquis Wen can take advantage of this opportunity to lead us to break out from the north and seize the enemy's water camp."

"And this general is both brave and fearless, and loyal to Wen Hou. He would rather die than disobey Wen Hou's command. That's why he didn't collapse at the first blow and was discovered by Liu Bei."

"In this way, although Marquis Wen will be able to successfully break through, I'm afraid this general and those thousands of soldiers will..."

Chen Gong did not say anything else, but just sighed slightly with a hint of helplessness.

How could Lu Bu not understand that Chen Gong wanted him to sacrifice a general to serve as bait and cannon fodder to buy time for him to break out?

"Gao Shun, Gao Boping!"

"He is loyal to me. Even if I ask him to die, he will never frown!"

However, Lu Bu did not hesitate at all and chose the candidate in an instant.

Song Xianhou Cheng was dead, and only Gao Shun, Cao Xing, Hao Meng and Wei Xu were left alive.

Although Gao Shun was upright and often gave honest advice, which was disliked by Lu Bu, he was aware of his loyalty.

"Marquis Wen, I heard that Gao Boping had followed Marquis Wen as early as when he was in Wuyuan. He is indeed loyal to Marquis Wen."

"Will Lord Wen really be willing to sacrifice such a loyal and righteous general?"

Chen Gong asked tentatively.

Lu Bu still did not hesitate at all and said disapprovingly:

"As long as I can break out of the encirclement, everything can be sacrificed, let alone a general."

"Since Gao Shun is loyal to me, now is the time for him to sacrifice himself and prove his loyalty to me."

Chen Gong remained silent.

However, Lu Bu drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, slammed the glass on the table with a bang, his eyes as determined as iron.

"Let's follow Gongtai's plan. Once the water level outside the city recedes, I will use Gaoshun to lure the main force of the big-eared bandits to encircle them, and Gongtai and I will break out from the north gate!"

...

Four days later, the flood water gradually receded and the water outside the city was no longer waist-deep.

Liu Jun’s main camp, inside the central military tent.

Liu Bei, Xiao Fang and other generals had discussed a plan to re-siege Shouchun and storm the city.

"In recent days, the number of Lu's soldiers who have fled Yuecheng has exceeded a thousand. This shows that the military advisor's strategy of attacking the hearts and minds has worked wonders."

"I think that once the water recedes, we don't need to set up a new camp, we can just attack the city with our army."

"Shouchun City will be conquered within one day!"

Guan Yu stroked his beautiful beard, and his tone and expression showed absolute confidence.

Huang Zhong nodded slightly and said with confidence:
"My lord, General Yunchang is right. Shouchun City is already riddled with holes. We only need to give it a slight kick and it will surely collapse."

"Zhongye thinks that there is no need to set up camp again, just attack the city immediately!"

All the generals agreed, their blood was boiling and they were eager to fight.

Liu Bei was inspired by his generals, and his face was also burning with determination, so he asked Xiao Fang:

"Military advisor, I also think that we can attack Shouchun without setting up camp. What do you think?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Xiao Fang, waiting for him to speak.

Xiao Fang waved his feather fan and smiled:
"If you had waited until the water receded before attacking Shouchun, I'm afraid Lu Bu would have already escaped."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone changed color.

Liu Bei was surprised and asked hurriedly, "Why do you say that, military advisor?"

Xiao Fang pointed his feather fan in the direction of Shouchun and said slowly:
"Although Lu Bu is a military commander, he is not a reckless man. Can't he see that the morale of his army has collapsed? Once our army attacks the city, it will be vulnerable."

"Think about the time when Chang'an was lost, Yanzhou was lost, or Xiapi fell, Lu Bu had no intention of fighting to the death, and he always abandoned the city and fled."

"This time, he will be no exception."

"I expect Chen Gong to give him advice, to abandon the city and break out before the water recedes and our army attacks the city."

"If you had waited until the water receded before attacking the city, wouldn't Lu Bu have escaped long ago?"

Liu Bei suddenly realized what was happening and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Military Advisor's words make sense. There is no reason for Lu Bu to stay in Shouchun and wait for death. He will definitely escape first."

"Fortunately, the military advisor had anticipated this. Otherwise, wouldn't Lu Bu have escaped and surrendered to Yuan Shao?"

Liu Bei's face was full of relief, and he said:
"In that case, we only need to figure out where Lu Bu is going to break out from, and then we can send a large number of troops to intercept him and destroy him in one fell swoop!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Fang was about to speak again.

However, Chen Dao came to report that the navy patrolling outside the city captured a man who had escaped from the city. He claimed that he was Chen Gong's confidant and had risked his life to leave the city to meet Liu Bei.

"Chen Gong's confidant?"

"Risking your life to see me?"

A strange look flashed across Liu Bei's eyes, and he couldn't help but look at Xiao Fang.

(End of this chapter)