Chapter 699-Liu Bei's Selfishness
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Yunmeng River, Zhou Yu Army Camp.
In contrast to the Cao Cao Camp, the players from the Sun Liu Camp could choose three places to spawn - Yunmeng River, Red Cliff, and Dongting Lake.
Choosing Yunmeng River was the same as entering the Jiangdong Camp and going under Zhou Yu. Apart from Zhou Yu, generals like Cheng Pu could be recruited.
This route of players had Di Chen as their leader, and their total strength was around 220 thousand. Apart from that, Sha Pojun, Wandering Magic, and associated Lords were in this camp.
The Lords who chose Red Cliff were basically Lords that were near the ocean, with navy as their main force. This group had Xiong Ba and Zhan Lang as their leader, and they had around 50 thousand troops.
As for those who chose Dongting Lake, there were two split choices. One was to follow Huang Gai and move into Yuanjiang, or they could follow Liu Bei to go through Xiangjiang to attack Linxiang.
In the Liu Bei Camp, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang were present.
Those who chose Dongting Lake were basically there for the Liu Bei Camp. Their goal was to recruit Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang, these two famous fellows.
This group of players had Chun Shenjun as their leader, including those who chose Huang Gai, there were 80 thousand.
Ouyang Shuo lacked information regarding the player allocation of the Sun Liu Camp. If not, he would not fear the Zhou Yu troops in Yunmeng River.
220 thousand players were not enough to cause too much of a threat to Jiangling City.
In the middle camp tent, Di Chen acted as the player representative to meet Zhou Yu and report the changes in the contribution point ranking. At the same time, he described his conjecture: Lu Su's Army had already faced defeat.
When Zhou Yu heard this news, he remained silent, his face filled with pain.
"On the side of Red Cliff, do we have confidence?" Zhou Yu suddenly asked. Lu Su's Army was cleanly destroyed, which caused his confidence in Xiong Ba's plan to waver.
Di Chen replied, "Of course not." Di Chen also had a feeling that they were a little too confident about the plan. However, the arrow was already on the bowstring, so they had no choice but to fire.
When Zhou Yu heard these words, he did not know whether to believe them or not.
"On the side of Jiangling City?" Zhou Yu asked.
Di Chen understood what Zhou Yu was getting at, so he confidently replied, "Of course, no problem!"
"Great!" Zhou Yu hollered, "The army will charge forward and take down Jiangling to take revenge for them."
"Yes!" Di Chen cupped his fists.
"You can leave!" Zhou Yu waved his hands; it was hard to hide his exhaustion.
It seemed like the fall of Lu Su's Army was a huge blow to Zhou Yu. In that army there was Lu Su, and his favored generals such as Lu Meng and Gan Ning.
Thinking about how these generals would face misfortune, Zhou Yu was heartbroken.
"I'm useless!"
In the empty camp, a low sigh was heard. The cold wind outside the tent seemed colder and colder.
Outside Linxiang City, Liu Bei Camp.
Liu Bei naturally received the same news that Zhou Yu did. The one that reported it to him was Chun Shenjun.
Liu Bei's first reaction was to summon Zhuge Liang.
After Zhuge Liang heard Chun Shenjun's report, he did not even hesitate and said, "Lord, the fall of Lu Su's Army means that Red Cliff is in danger. The only plan is to retreat and gather with Huang Gai's troops to crush their player army."
The strategic location of Red Cliff was something that Zhuge Liang was clear about.
"Retreat?" When Liu Bei heard this suggestion, he hesitated.
Just last night, the Changsha Governor Han Xuan had sent someone over to express their intentions to surrender.
Only the specifics remained.
This also meant that Changsha was there for the taking. Retreating now was not something he could bear to do. Liu Bei often roamed around, so he desired to have a territory of his own.
"That's right, immediately retreat!" Zhuge Liang was insistent.
"How can we do that? Changsha is right there. If we retreat, we will be wasting all our efforts! Retreat? Definitely not." The one who spoke was Zhang Fei; his eyes were as wide as that of a bull's.
Guan Yu agreed, "That's right, Red Cliff has Zhou Yu taking care of it. The most important thing is to take down Changsha."
These two brothers were the sworn brothers of Liu Bei, and they saw through Liu Bei's thoughts.
Only Zhao Yun kept silent and did not speak.
The current Zhuge Liang had just come out and had not shown too much of his ability. Naturally, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei did not trust him.
Hence, the two spoke without any worries.
When Liu Bei heard the replies, he was unhappy and chided, "Second brother, third brother, do not be rude, apologize to the advisor!"
"Big brother!"
Zhang Fei did not want to.
"If you do not, do not call me big brother." Liu Bei went all out.
As expected, Zhang Fei bowed toward Zhuge Liang and said, "Advisor please forgive me!"
When Zhuge Liang heard these words, he smiled, "What did you do wrong? Haha!"
These words slowly solved the awkward atmosphere in the camp.
"Zhuge Liang, can we consider the retreating? Why not wait a few days till we take it down before moving out?" In the end, Liu Bei returned to the original suggestion.
During the Three Kingdoms, if one talked about thick skin, Liu Bei had the thickest.
When Zhuge Liang heard this, he sighed, and he knew that he could not change Liu Bei's mind, "I'll immediately arrange to talk to Han Xuan to try and settle the deal."
"Good, thank you advisor!" Liu Bei was delighted.
Chun Shenjun did not speak from the start till the end. Liu Bei wanting to drag the matter on naturally delighted him. He wanted to use this chance to teach Xiong Ba and Zhan Lang a lesson.
With that, the matter was settled.
Outside Linxiang City, Huang Gai Camp.
In contrast to Liu Bei's hesitation, the moment Huang Gai received the news, he ordered a retreat, giving up on attacking Wuling Prefecture.
The Lord that reported tried to stop him, "General, we have around 30 thousand troops. If we go to Red Cliff, we might face the enemy squadron. At that time, we would not be able to assist and would instead be in deep trouble ourselves. General, please reconsider."
When Huang Gai heard these words, he frowned.
During the Battle of Red Cliff, Huang Gai was the main contributor. The plan to fake surrender and use fire to attack was one that Huang Gai proposed to Zhou Yu. As an experienced general, Huang Gai was one of the elders in the Jiangdong Organization. He had vast experience and was extremely intelligent, making many important decisions.
Long ago, when Sun Jian became a Lord and started his crusade against Dong Zhuo, Huang Gai had been following beside him.
Hence, his loyalty toward the Jiangdong Organization was undoubtable. However, he was not a rash person. Although he worried about Red Cliff, he could still accept other people's opinion.
"So what should we do?" Huang Gai asked.
"I think we should meet up with Liu Bei's troops and move in together. With that, we would not need to worry about the enemy and can also help the Red Cliff troops to pincer the enemy," the Lord suggested.
All the Lords that joined the battle map were among the top in the China region.
"You're right." Huang Gai agreed, "Only, can we get there in time?"
Huang Gai was experienced. From the information the players revealed, it was not hard to deduce that the enemy squadron was already at the opening of the Han River and were not far from Red Cliff.
On the contrary, they were still at Dongting Lake and even further away from Red Cliff than the enemy. As for Liu Bei's Army, they were even further. Adding in the time to meet up, it did not look optimistic.
The Lord was confident, "General does not need to worry. The players there are elites and are prepared. Hence, I feel that even if the enemy reaches there before us, they would not be able to take down Red Cliff before we reach there. They might even fall there."
Xiong Ba and Zhan Lang being the ones guarding Red Cliff was not a secret since long ago.
"Hence, we cannot rush and need to prepare. We should use our absolute advantage to crush the enemy." The Lord made such a conclusion.
His words finally convinced Huang Gai.
"Good, let's follow what you said and send a letter to Liu Bei." Huang Gai did not hesitate when he did things.
"Then I'll take my leave!"
As he spoke, the player Lord left the tent.
"Brother, I can only do this much for you." Looking at the sky, the Lord muttered, his voice solemn and sad, like he was facing a really tough situation.
If other players were here, they would recognize that this person was Gong Chengshi.
Xunlong Dianxue's unhappiness with Shanhai City had already spread internally through the Shanhai Alliance. Without any exceptions, everyone stood on Shanhai Alliance's side, not understanding the unreasonable acts of Xunlong Dianxue.
After all, before Ouyang Shuo headed out to sea, he had especially gathered all of them. He also said that during that period of time he would not join the activities of the other allies.
Hence, Song Jia's refusal was within Ouyang Shuo's plan.
Who knew that the attitude of the members would deepen the anger in Xunlong Dianxue's heart.
As a good friend of Xunlong Dianxue, Gong Chengshi knew everything that happened from start to finish. Although he sympathized with Xunlong Dianxue's defeat regarding Yizhou Island, he did not blame Shanhai City.
Xunlong Dianxue complained to him and chose the Sun Liu Camp to show his displeasure.
Helplessly, Gong Chengshi could only follow along. First, he wanted to take the chance to console and calm Xunlong Dianxue down. Secondly, he wanted to prevent Xunlong Dianxue from making any irrational decisions.
They did not expect that branch quests would occur in Sun Liu camp, and the two of them were unable to go to the same place.
With Gong Chengshi's understanding of Xunlong Dianxue, he knew that Xunlong Dianxue was a quest maniac and loved to take the unusual route. Hence, he thought that Xunlong Dianxue would choose the Huang Gai questline.
He did not expect to not find Xunlong Dianxue in the Huang Gai Camp; this had increased his worries.
"Xunlong ah, please do not do anything stupid. If not, we will not be able to salvage this." Gong Chengshi sighed; his heart felt truly conflicted.
On one side was the big brother he respected. Without Ouyang Shuo, there would not be Black Lion City. However, on the other was his good friend and brother.
With that, Gong Chengshi was faced with a tough decision either way.