Chapter 263 Believe me, Liu Bei will be the second Emperor Guangwu! Let's take a gamble. If the bet is right, we will be the loyal minister of the emperor!
Xia Pi City, Chen Mansion.

In a secret room, Chen Deng was kneeling in front of a desk, telling his father Chen Gui about the military meeting in the provincial government.

"Yuanlong, has Master Yuan really decided to use military force against Liu Xuande?"

Chen Gui put down the tea bowl in his hand, frowned and looked at his son, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

Chen Deng sighed and said helplessly:

"Lord Yuan was deprived of his position as general by the emperor, and he intends to punish Liu Xuande. This eldest son Yuan also wants to seize Huainan to increase his prestige, so as to add bargaining chips to his competition with the third son Yuan for the throne."

"In addition, Chen Gongtai was eager to gain a position under the Yuan family. He understood the eldest son Yuan's mind and tried his best to encourage him to use troops in Huainan."

"They hit it off immediately, and this Young Master Yuan made a decision on the spot. It seems that he is determined to lead his troops to Huainan and start a full-scale war with Liu Xuande."

Chen Gui sighed and said bitterly:
"It seems that my Xuzhou is about to be in flames again. When will the suffering of the war for us Xuzhou people end~~"

His words were filled with sadness and helplessness.

Tao Qian, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao...

In less than ten years, Xuzhou changed hands five times.

Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou twice, Lu Bu stole Xuzhou, Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou again, Yuan Tan’s troops entered Xuzhou…

Chen Gui could no longer remember how many battles, big and small, had been fought in his hometown of Xuzhou over the years.

The once prosperous Xuzhou is now a place with barren fields and displaced villagers. The total population of the state may be less than that of Wei County in Jizhou.

Among those Xuzhou people who died in the war, there were also members of his Chen family.

Now Yuan Tan has just captured Xuzhou, and a war has ended for less than a month, but he is about to launch another war against Liu Bei!

Although troops were deployed against Liu Bei, the brunt of the battlefield was in Xuyi, in Guangling County, which was still within his territory of Xuzhou.

Chen Gui was worried.

"Well, although Guangling County will be hit by war again, at least the other four counties in Xuzhou will not be affected."

"After this battle, the world will be settled, and Xuzhou should not be in danger of war again."

Chen Gui comforted himself, and a glimmer of hope rekindled in his helpless eyes.

What he meant, of course, was that Yuan Shao's defeat of Cao Cao was a foregone conclusion, and that there would be no suspense as he would then go south to destroy Liu Bei.

It is an inevitable trend that the whole world will belong to Yuan Shikai. From now on, Xuzhou will never change its owner again. The battle ahead will naturally be the last one.

"Father, I think Liu Xuande may not lose to Yuan Tan."

"This battle may not be the last battle in Xuzhou."

Chen Deng's tone was meaningful, but it contradicted his father's judgment.

Chen Gui stopped drinking the tea from his mouth and looked at his son with confusion, as if he couldn't understand the deep meaning of his words.

"Father, have you noticed that Liu Xuande today is no longer the Liu Xuande who first took charge of Xuzhou?"

"I see that he has been reborn since he got the assistance of Xiao Fang. With only 3,000 remaining soldiers, he was able to successively destroy the five princes of Zhang Ji, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu in just a few years!"

"Even Cao Mengde suffered heavy losses in his battles with Liu Xuande several times, and even lost his eldest son."

"And the Yuan family, wasn't Liu Xuande also ambushed and captured Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan alive?"

"As far as I know, since Liu Bei moved to Xuzhou and got the assistance of Xiao Fang, he has never been defeated!"

"What an incredible achievement! Even if Han Xin and Bai Qi were reborn, they would not be able to achieve more than this."

The more Chen Deng spoke, the more excited his tone became. It was obvious that although he had been in Xuzhou all these years, he had always been paying attention to Liu Bei's movements.

Chen Gui's hand trembled slightly, and the tea in the bowl spilled a little, and a gleam of light appeared in his eyes.

"With your reminder, Liu Xuande is indeed a completely different person now. Just based on his undefeated record, it is not an exaggeration to describe him as a man of great might and strategy."

"As for Xiao Jinglue, he is indeed a rare talent in the world, and he really has some potential to become a sage."

Chen Gui nodded slightly and looked up at his son:
"I understand what you mean. You mean that Liu Xuande may not be defeated by Yuan Tan."

"It's even possible that he could defeat Yuan Tan, take advantage of the situation and march north to fight back to Xuzhou!"

"With Liu Xuande's ambition to support the Han Dynasty, he will surely seize Xuzhou in one fell swoop. By then, all of our state and five counties will be engulfed in flames and be engulfed in war again?"

Chen Deng hesitated to speak.

Seeing this, Chen Gui had no choice but to ask again:

"Deng'er, is what your father said wrong? What do you want to say?"

Chen Deng remained silent.

After a long time, he took a deep breath, his eyes revealing a kind of determination.

"Father, I have a feeling that Liu Xuande will not only recapture Xuzhou, but will also most likely defeat Yuan Shao in the future, unify the world, and rebuild the Han Dynasty!"

"This time, we can no longer go with the flow. Whoever conquers Xuzhou will be the lord of Xuzhou."

"Back then, we didn't have the courage to burn our boats and follow the Mi family in abandoning our homes and careers and following Liu Xuande to Jingzhou."

"This time, Liu Xuande has already fought his way back to Xuzhou. We can no longer hesitate and miss this last chance to serve him."

Chen Deng bowed deeply to Chen Gui and expressed his true intentions in a tone more serious than ever before.

The tea bowl in Chen Gui's hand shook again, and his face changed drastically.

A minister who follows the dragon!

Chen Deng wanted to persuade him to bring the Chen family and secretly surrender to Liu Bei, cooperate with Liu Bei to defeat Yuan Tan, and welcome Liu Bei to take over Xuzhou for the second time!

"Deng'er, your idea is really too risky."

"Liu Xuande is indeed a man of great talent and strategy, and he is also a benevolent and righteous ruler. If possible, your father would naturally hope that he would be the ruler of Xuzhou forever."

"But have you ever thought about it? The Yuan family now controls the five states of Ji, Bing, Qing, You and Xu. Once the Battle of Guandu is won, Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Sizhou will also belong to the Yuan family."

"At that time, Yuan Shao controlled eight states and had more than a million armored soldiers!"

"In the face of such an overwhelming advantage, even if Liu Xuande is so brave and powerful, and Xiao Jinglue is so wise and resourceful, is there really a chance for the weak to defeat the strong and the snake to swallow the elephant?"

"If we betray Yuan Shao and secretly join Liu Xuande, and Yuan Shao takes over the world in the future, will my Chen family still have a chance to survive?"

Chen Gui's voice was hoarse, and his words clearly showed his fear of Yuan Shao.

"What father said is indeed true." "But father, don't forget that Yuan Benchu ​​seems to be unrivaled on the surface, but he is old and powerful, and he indulges his sons in fighting for the throne and allows his subordinates to form factions for personal gain and fight openly and secretly."

"The Yuan family may seem powerful, but in fact, it is full of contradictions and crises."

"Although Liu Xuande's strength appears to be weak, his superiors and subordinates are united as one."

"Besides, even if there is a huge disparity in strength between Yuan and Liu, can it be greater than the gap when Liu Xuande defeated Liu Biao's 100,000 strong army with only 3,000 remnants?"

"I believe that Liu Xuande will be able to defeat Yuan Shao and become the second Emperor Guangwu!"

Chen Deng stated his reasons word by word with confidence and determination in his eyes and tone.

The surprise on Chen Gui's face disappeared, and he fell silent. He began to ponder his son's analysis in his mind, weighing the pros and cons.

Seeing that he was still undecided, Chen Deng immediately stood up and bowed, saying:
"Father, the battle between Yuan and Liu is imminent, and we must make a decision before the outcome is clear."

"Only in this way can our Chen family's surrender to Liu Xuande be a timely help, rather than icing on the cake."

"This time, please trust my judgment!"

Chen Gui's heart trembled, and he raised his head sharply to look at Chen Deng.

Looking at that resolute and confident look and that firm attitude, the last bit of worry in his heart disappeared completely.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Gui sighed, waved his hand and said self-deprecatingly:
"Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong, never mind, I am old now, you decide for yourself how the Chen family will go in the future."

These words were tantamount to tacit approval of Chen Deng's decision.

Chen Deng breathed a sigh of relief and immediately bowed again:

"Thank you for your trust, father. Please rest assured that my judgment will never be wrong!"

"I believe that Liu Xuande must be the master of destiny!"

...

Shouchun: A boat came from the lower reaches of the Huai River and docked at the ferry north of Shouchun City.

As Yuan Tan's envoy, Xin Ping held his head high and got off the boat leisurely and calmly.

Looking around, I saw thousands of Liu army soldiers boarding the boat at the ferry.

Under the "Guan" flag, warships loaded with soldiers slowly left the ferry and headed upstream.

"The ship is heading west, so Guan Yu should be leading his army back to Jingzhou."

"It seems that Liu Bei is satisfied with taking Huainan and has been reducing the troops in Shouchun. He probably didn't expect that we would go to war with him soon..."

Xin Ping's thoughts raced, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

After getting off the boat and getting on the car, he slowly drove into Shouchun City under the escort of a team of Liu's troops.

The city has regained its former prosperity, and all that can be seen along the way is a peaceful scene, with no trace of the tense atmosphere of facing a powerful enemy.

All these things he saw made Xin Ping feel more confident.

This means that Liu Bei did not intend to continue moving north to go to war with the Yuan family and fight for the Central Plains.

This also means that Liu Bei had never expected that Yuan Tan would lead his entire army south to attack his Huainan shortly after taking Xuzhou.

"You go back to Xuzhou first and tell the eldest master that Liu Bei is not on guard at all."

"The defenders of Xuyi City only had more than 4,000 people, and Liu Bei did not send reinforcements to Xuyi."

"Just ask the eldest son to follow Xu You's plan."

Xin Ping lowered his voice and gave instructions to his confidants outside the carriage.

The confidant took the order and immediately returned to the ferry.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the general's mansion.

Xin Ping still held his head high and got off the carriage in great style.

"It's been a great pleasure meeting you."

"Your humble servant Gu Yong, under the order of our great general, has come to invite Cong Gong Xin into the palace for a chat."

A young scribe came forward with a smile.

Xin Ping's face darkened slightly.

He is the envoy of the Yuan family and represents the face of Yuan Shao.

It was originally thought that Liu Bei, fearing Yuan Shao's power, would personally come out of the mansion to greet him warmly.

Even if Liu Bei did not come to greet him personally, he should have sent Xiao Fang, his strategist, to greet him.

Unexpectedly, neither Liu Bei nor Xiao Fang came, but only sent a small character like Gu Yong.

This is not taking him seriously, not taking Yuan Shao seriously...

Xin Ping had no choice but to swallow his saliva, suppressed his dissatisfaction, and followed Gu Yong into the mansion with a stern face.

A moment later, in the general's mansion, Xin Ping finally saw Liu Bei sitting high on the throne.

The Lord of Jingyang, the great general appointed by the Emperor, still did not come down the steps to greet him in person, and remained seated high up.

After meeting, his attitude was lukewarm, with just polite words.

"I wonder what Xin Congshi has come here for?"

After the polite exchanges, Liu Bei did not beat around the bush and asked directly.

Xin Ping cleared his throat, raised his head and faced Liu Bei, bowing slightly:

"I came here today on the orders of my master and my eldest son to ask Lord Xuande to do three things."

"First of all, please ask Lord Xuande to send my master's nephew, General Gao Gan, to Xia Pi with courtesy."

"The second thing is that Xuzhou is now owned by my master, and Guangling County is under Xuzhou. My eldest son asks Lord Xuande to return Guangling's property to its original owner."

"Third, my lord intends to form an alliance with Lord Xuande. Please ask Lord Xuande to send troops to Xudu immediately to cooperate with my lord to attack from both north and south to destroy Cao!"

Inside the hall, all the generals turned pale with anger when they heard what Xin Ping said.

(End of this chapter)