Plan to cut off the nine states

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Gan Zhao plans to leave Dongdu and even admits that this is an "escape".

Xu Chu and Gan Zhao shared the west city wall, so it was more convenient to meet. When he entered the room, Gan Zhao had already put on full armor and was pacing back and forth. When he saw King Wu, he was very happy and said, "I must go, we can't stay for a moment." Mr. Xu - please allow me not to call you King of Wu - Mr. Xu, please flee with me."

"Where to go?"

"Of course it's Yizhou. Mr. Xu suggested that I go there to establish myself. You also said that the sooner I leave, the better. There should be no delay."

"While the King of Shu is still outside the city, the sooner he leaves, the better. Now that he has entered the city, it may not be that easy to leave."

Gan Zhao sat down slumped, and was in a daze for a while, then raised his head and said, "The King of Avatar's concerns are not on me, isn't this okay?"

Xu Chu sat across from him and said with a smile: "It has nothing to do with King Jingshi, it's King Jin and King Ning. They won't let you go."

Gan Zhao was stunned, "I didn't offend either of them..."

Xu Chu smiled and said nothing. Gan Zhao wanted to continue his defense. Before he could say anything, his face turned red, so he forced out a dry smile and said, "Mr. Xu, no no, King Wu is really a smart man."

"I told them, no snitches."

Gan Zhao was silent for a while, "I didn't mean to tell the truth, it was just... just..."

"Did Xue Liujia find you?"

"He sent someone to look for me and threatened me, saying that he would kill a king no matter what today to establish his authority. If I didn't confess someone, he would have me stabbed." Gan Zhao smiled awkwardly, "I'm not greedy. People who are afraid of death, so..."

"So you didn't confess one person, but everyone."

Gan Zhao was even more embarrassed, "King Jiushi has already suspected the kings. I said a few words along the way, but I didn't mention today's plan. I promised King Wu to keep it secret, but I didn't mention it at all."

Although Gan Zhao's "informant" did not point to any king, it was enough to make Xue Liujia determined to kill a king. After some weighing, he chose Jin Wang Shen Dan. If Xu Chu hadn't stepped forward, the hall would have been full of people. Blood on the ground.

"King Wu is so courageous, but this way, King Jingshi becomes more convinced that all the kings are against him and will take action sooner or later."

"The five kings guard the gate and have at least 10,000 soldiers under their command. Xue Liujia only brought 6,000 people into the palace. What are you afraid of him doing?"

"Although there are tens of thousands of people among the five kings, they are at odds with each other. King Jingshi is the best at sowing discord, and he has tens of thousands of people outside the city. Once the city is attacked, the five kings will be attacked from both sides."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "Although there are many soldiers outside the city, they are not good at attacking the city. Each of the five kings leaves hundreds of people to defend the city, which is enough. Xue Liujia's instigation of dissension is useful for the rebellious people in Qinzhou, but it is ineffective against the five kings. We These people can't even distinguish the priorities. When the five kings united to fight against the officers and soldiers, where was Xue Liujia? When he went to war, did he ever give his all and fight the enemy bravely on the battlefield?

Gan Zhao shook his head and remained silent.

"The King of Shu has been following the King of Incarnation for a long time, and may be wary of him. We don't care whether he is Maitreya's direct disciple or not. Even if he is Maitreya himself who has come to the world, he is still a mortal body now, so he should be killed anyway."

Gan Zhao sighed and said, "King Wu, please listen to me. I don't believe the nonsense of King Jingshi either. What I'm worried about is... the kings are still at odds."

"Even after joining forces once, King Shu still has doubts?"

Gan Zhao shook his head with a smile, and sighed again, longer and heavier than the last time, "The king of Wu has a better vision than me. I don't believe that the king of Wu didn't see it. You were right just now, the kings are not Qinzhou rioters, at least He is smarter than those who were kings before, maybe too smart. No matter what others say, King Ning and King Jin are in the same situation. After King Wu left last night, King Jin sent people to win over the generals and even entered my house. In the camp, he promised them that if the King of Jin can take over the Eastern Capital, he will give all the property, people and animals of the Eastern Capital to all the generals, and he only needs four walls."

When Xu Chu was present, Liu Youzhong had made such a suggestion. Shen Dan refused, and wanted to use benevolence and righteousness to convince the people. However, his actions afterwards were consistent with Liu Youzhong. I don't know whether he was persuaded or had this in the first place. It's just a disguise in front of Xu Chu.

Xu Chu didn't think about it carefully, "Well, I'm not surprised at all that King Jin would do this."

"Then there is Prince Ning. I know his character very well. He is definitely not a lustful person. He suddenly became interested in the Queen Mother and made it known both inside and outside. It is obviously to appease the King of the World. He must have some tricks up his sleeve. With his usual behavior If you want to kill, don’t just kill one person... I’d better escape earlier.”

"Why did the King of Shu not escape but follow the kings into the city?"

"I kind of... hope that both King Jishi and King Ning or King Jin will lose." Gan Zhao smiled again, "All kings have ambitions, and I am not immune to it. I have a little ambition and hope to increase my troops. When I arrive in Yizhou , things can go more smoothly.”

Xu Chu nodded and was not picky about this, "King Ning and King Jin are very ambitious, and they both have the intention to annex the armies, but it doesn't matter. Otherwise, the kings will not be able to unite. I am only worried that everyone is too ambitious and greedy. The small profits at the head of the camp are taken away when they are good, and they do not dare to confront the king of the world head-on. "

Gan Zhao's face turned red again, thinking that King Wu was talking about him. A man of several dozen years old, in front of a young man, looked as embarrassed as a junior official meeting his boss for the first time.

He is indeed a junior official, but he has never been afraid of any superiors.

"King Wu really thinks that the kings can join forces again?"

"It's not a 'think', but a 'fact'. The King of Jin and the King of Liang have agreed to join, and the officers and soldiers of the two armies are at my disposal."

Gan Zhao was very surprised, "Did King Jin say that too?"

"Especially King Jin, after what happened today, he understands that if he does not maintain a good relationship with the kings, it will be like giving his head to Xue Liujia."

Gan Zhao thought for a while, "Where is Prince Ning?"

"King Ning is simple. I will go see him later and with a few words, I can ask him to hand over all his soldiers. King Shu can go with me. If everything goes well, we will form an alliance on the spot. If it doesn't go well, we will guard the west city. Do you want to Just go, who can stop me?"

Speaking of this, Gan Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll go with King Wu and see what King Ning says. Now that the matter has come to this, hiding is no longer an option."

The two of them climbed the city without any guards and walked around to the north. As soon as they reached the boundary, they were stopped by King Ning's soldiers. After a briefing, they were allowed to pass.

"King Ning is always so strict when leading troops, but everyone still likes to follow him." Gan Zhao whispered, quite awe of Ning Baoguan.

Ning Baoguan still lived in the tower. He finally closed the windows and lit a charcoal fire, which he relied on for warmth and lighting.

Ning Baoguan sat there warming himself by the fire without arranging any chairs or stools. He didn't raise his head when someone came in, let alone say hello. He looked like he was rejecting people from thousands of miles away.

Gan Zhaogong made his move without saying a word, and stood aside silently, waiting to see how Xu Chu would persuade King Ning.

Xu Chu stepped forward without saying a word, picked up the charcoal from the ground, and put it into the basin one by one. The flame was strong at first, and then it was suppressed to the point where it could not burn. It was about to go out, and puffs of smoke came out.

Ning Baoguan reached out and grabbed Xu Chu's right wrist, used an iron bar with his other hand to push away the excess charcoal, and asked coldly: "What are you doing?"

“Add charcoal to charcoal and see if it burns more vigorously or becomes overwhelmed and goes out.”

"Of course it's extinguished... If you have something to say, just say it and don't do this."

"Prince Ning is addicted to the tactic of killing people with a borrowed knife. He wanted to see Xue Liujia and Prince Jin reconcile, but unfortunately he failed to do so. And has Prince Ning ever thought that no matter who wins between the two, the next person he has to deal with is you."

Ning Baoguan let go of his hand and said coldly: "If I am the winner, you will be the one I must deal with next."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "Thank you to King Ning for your opinion, but the winner is either Xue Liujia or King Jin. The ideas of the two of them are not up to you. To be honest, I sent someone to inform Wu Jun who was staying in the Supreme Garden. Officers, order them to return to Jiangdong immediately and not come to meet me in Dongdu. So you see, I only have these people in Dongdu. If I don’t have two thousand people, neither King Jin nor Xue Liujia will consider me as their next target.”

"Have you sent someone back to Jiangdong?" Ning Baoguan stood up and asked.

"Exactly." Xu Chu lied casually. In fact, he asked Wang Dian to lead his army to Yecheng, Jizhou. "The news of the fall of Dongdu will soon spread throughout the world. Wang Dian will patrol Jiangdong Prefecture in the name of the World Army. Who will Dare you surrender?”

Ning Baoguan sat down slowly, "You have too many evil intentions, so many that someone has to kill you."

Xu Chu said with a smile: "That will happen in the future. In short, Jiangdong will soon be mine. I stayed in Dongdu only to get rid of the King of the World, so that no one would use the banner of 'Ancestral King' to suppress me."

"So you don't really advise me to become emperor?"

Gan Zhao, who was standing at the door, was startled when he heard the word "proclaimed emperor". He still didn't speak and made up his mind to just watch.

"Prince Ning has never been sincere to me, how can I be sincere? But you should indeed be the emperor. This has nothing to do with whether I am sincere. It only depends on whether Prince Ning has the ambition and courage."

"Hey."

"I came to see Prince Ning this time for no other reason than to ask Prince Ning to hand over all his officers and men to me."

"Huh?" Ning Baoguan raised the red-hot iron bar at the end, his expression as stern as if King Wu wanted his wife.

"King Ning wanted to kill Xue Liujia, but he didn't want to bear the reputation. I'll take the responsibility. Anyway, I have already been guilty of assassinating the driver, so I don't care about having another name for killing the king. After getting rid of Xue Liujia, I will lead the Wu army to Jiangdong. Dongdu will belong to whomever it likes, and I won’t participate.”

"I won't participate when I go to Yizhou." Gan Zhao at the door added.

Ning Baoguan glanced at Gan Zhao, lowered his head and pondered. After a moment, he raised his head and said, "Okay, King Shu, please call Luo Hanqi in."

"Yes." Gan Zhao went out and soon called Ning Baoguan's general Luo Hanqi in.

"Prince Ning is looking for me?" Luo Hanqi said loudly.

"I will lend you and all the soldiers to the King of Wu...how many days will you need?"

"I'll borrow it today and return it in the evening the next day," Xu Chu said.

"You come back the day after tomorrow in the evening. During these two days, King Wu's orders are my orders. If King Wu asks you to kill me, you must obey. Do you understand?"

"Ah? This... okay, I understand, just ask King Wu."

Xu Chu was not polite, "Please General Luo to leave five hundred men to guard the city, protect King Ning, and not allow anyone to enter or exit. Before dawn tomorrow, lead the army to the west city to join me. Before sunrise, military law will be dealt with."

"As ordered." Luo Hanqi said with cupped hands.

Xu Chu also bowed his hand to Ning Baoguan and said, "Farewell, King Ning is waiting for good news."

As soon as he returned to the west city wall, Gan Zhao said in surprise: "King Ning really valued the king of Wu and actually lent him soldiers."

Xu Chu smiled and said: "Although Prince Ning keeps saying he wants to kill me, he actually sympathizes with me. He believes that I can get rid of Xue Liujia, and he also believes that I will return as a general."

Gan Zhao cupped his hands and said, "There's nothing to say. The hundreds of people under my tent are all dispatched by King Wu. There are still my people outside the city, so I've called them in..."

"No, these few hundred people are enough. Any movement of the army outside the city will definitely arouse the suspicion of the World Army, which will be detrimental to the inside of the city."

Gan Zhao nodded in agreement, convinced, and made no further plans to escape.

Xu Chu heaved a sigh of relief. If Gan Zhao hadn't accompanied him, he really wouldn't have been sure to convince Ning Baoguan.

With a large army in hand, Xu Chu began to think about how to deal with Xue Liujia. He used a head-on confrontation as a rhetoric to motivate others, but he didn't think it was a good idea.

He had to think of another way.