That night, Su Gu hosted a banquet in the prefect's mansion to welcome Liu Bei and Kuai Yue to express his gratitude.
When Kuai Yue found out that Liu Bei was also here to rescue Hanzhong, his nose almost went crooked from anger.
You don't even have to fight for business like this, do you?
Why did you come and interfere when I was about to reach an agreement with Su Gu? What do you mean by that?
Or are you deliberately here to cause trouble?
If it wasn't for the fact that Liu Bei's current military strength wasn't weak, Kuai Yue would have pointed at Liu Bei's nose and cursed.
But he didn't dare.
Kuai Yue had heard a little about the process of the alliance between the vassals and the crusade against Dong from his brother Kuai Liang.
Liu Bei had made a name for himself in this alliance meeting.
He could already be considered a middle-sized duke.
Seeing Su Gu and Liu Bei talking and laughing like brothers, Kuai Yue couldn't help but sneer in his heart.
I'll let you be smug for a few days. When the time comes, you'll have to beg me.
Liu Bei's arrival could be said to have completely disrupted Kuai Yue's plans.
Now, he could only wait and see, and then plan before taking action.
Kuai Yue thought that he would wait until Su Gu and Liu Bei's allied forces were about to be defeated by Zhang Lu before making his move.
At that time, if he wanted any benefits, it would be up to him, Kuai Yue, to decide.
Therefore, Kuai Yue's plan was to watch from the sidelines and wait for Su Gu, Liu Bei, and Zhang Lu to fight to the death.
It had to be said that Kuai Yue was indeed worthy of being one of Liu Biao's masterminds. His thoughts were really vicious.
Unfortunately, some things might not develop according to his wishes.
"Xuande, according to the scouts, Zhang Lu will attack Nanzheng tomorrow. Do you have any good plan to repel the enemy?”
After three rounds of drinking, Su Gu began to discuss the battle with Liu Bei.
He had already decided to cooperate with Liu Bei.
Because Liu Biao's appetite was too big, Su Zhi was unwilling to accept it.
Of course, as an old fox, Su Gu still understood the principle of leaving a backup plan.
Therefore, he invited Kuai Yue to the banquet tonight, hoping to use this opportunity to appease him.
At the same time, Su Gu also wanted Kuai Yue to take a look.
Even without you, Liu Biao, I can still find people to help, and the price I have to pay is much lower than yours.
As for Liu Biao, whether or not they would cooperate in the future would depend on the strength of Liu Bei's army.
Once Liu Bei's strength was not enough to resist Zhang Lu.
Su Gu might even reach an agreement with Liu Biao and cede the four counties in the east to him in exchange for Liu Biao's support.
This was much better than losing the entire Hanzhong County.
Su Gu was scheming in his heart.
Su Gu and Kuai Yue, these two cunning foxes, had a good plan.
After a moment of silence, Liu Bei frowned and said,"Brother Zhong Cheng, before deciding on a good plan to repel the enemy, I would like to ask how many soldiers do you have left?”
"Uh…"
When Su Gu heard this awkward question, he couldn't help but blush.
The strength in his hands now was really a little difficult to talk about.
He couldn't expose his family's dirty linen and say that the other counties had refused to come to support him and that he only had five thousand soldiers left.
Just as Su Gu was feeling awkward.
Zhao Song, who was at the side, had an idea and quickly interrupted,"Duke Xuande, Hanzhong County originally had nearly thirty thousand soldiers, but after the bloody battle with Zhang Lu at Jiameng Pass, only ten thousand remained.
If one were to take away those who were injured and unable to fight, there were about 8,000 soldiers that could be used in Southern Zheng City.”
Zhao Song deliberately exaggerated the losses at Jiameng Pass to cover up the family scandal of the other counties refusing to provide support, as well as the humiliating defeat at Jiameng Pass.
In addition, Zhao Song's words about the remaining 8,000 soldiers were also exaggerated.
There were less than 5,000 soldiers that could be used.
"Ah, how did we lose so many soldiers?”
Liu Bei said with a look of regret.
"Yes, it's all because the enemy's forces are more than twice our numbers. With the enemy outnumbering us, such a huge sacrifice was caused.”
Su Gu said with a sorrowful expression.
"Yes, the difference in strength is too great. This is indeed a crime that is not related to war.”
Liu Bei nodded his head in understanding.
"Brother Zhong Cheng, since you've suffered such a great loss, how many soldiers does Zhang Lu have left?" Liu Bei asked.”
When Su Gu heard this, he looked at Zhao Song again."Zishan, you should tell us about the enemy's situation.”
"Yes!"
Zhao Song cupped his hands at Su Gu and continued,""As far as I know, Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu brought around sixty thousand soldiers to attack Hanzhong. After the battle at Jiameng Pass, there should be around thirty thousand left.”
Zhao Song continued to make things up, exaggerating the enemy's strength and the losses they suffered at Jiameng Pass.
He wanted to use this to whitewash their defeat at Jiameng Pass and save some face for Su Gu.
"Mm, that's not bad!"
Liu Bei nodded and said with relief," If Zhang Lu still has 30,000 left, then we have about 16,000 left. If we are only defending the city, we should be invincible."”
Zhao Song's face twitched when he heard this.
He wanted to persuade Liu Bei not to let his guard down and underestimate his enemy, but he found that he did not know how to start.
The lie was made up by himself, so he couldn't expose it now.
"Haha, Xuande is right."
Su Gu laughed.
Alright, since Liu Bei said that defending the city would not be a problem, Su Gu did not say anything more.
Next, he could only discuss the various details of the city defense with Liu Bei.
For example, how to allocate the soldiers.
How should the supplies be transported?
Once there was danger, how should the two sides communicate with each other and rescue in time?
From the beginning to the end, Qin Feng didn't say a word and just listened quietly.
In his opinion, there was no right to speak without an investigation.
He could only wait for Zhang Lu to come tomorrow. After Qin Feng figured out Zhang Lu's true strength and combined it with his own situation, he could make the most appropriate countermeasures.
Everything depended on tomorrow.
From tomorrow onwards, Hanzhong would be a place where Su Gu, Zhang Lu, Liu Bei, and Liu Biao would compete.
And who would Hanzhong fall into?
A faint confident smile appeared on the corner of Qin Feng's mouth.
………………
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