Your Majesty, please spare Diao Chan; your yang energy is too strong.

"They were prepared in advance?"

Liu Bei frowned, then seemed to have thought of something, and immediately looked up and searched around.

"What is Brother looking for?" Guan Yu asked, puzzled.

"Mi Zhu, where is Mi Zhu?"

Guan Yu replied, "Mi Zhu was in our camp before, but after entering the city, he disappeared without a trace."

Liu Bei jumped to his feet: "This is bad."

Guan Yu explained, "What's wrong, brother? It must have been too chaotic when we entered the city, and we got separated. I guess we'll be back soon."

Liu Bei beat his chest and stamped his feet: "Return my ass! We've been tricked! We've all been tricked by him! I'm so angry!"

Guan Yu was startled: "What?"

Liu Bei regretted: "I had doubts before. Zhou Heng not only has no dealings with us, but we also have a grudge against each other. Why would he give me such a huge benefit for no reason?"

"I was just deceived by Mi Zhu at the time."

"Now I understand, this wasn't him giving me any benefits at all."

"They're clearly plotting against us?"

Liu Bei gritted his teeth.

"Brother, are you saying that Mi Zhu was plotting against us from the very beginning?"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei looked at each other in bewilderment.

"good."

Liu Bei nodded, glanced at Chen Gong on the city wall, then at his own heavily wounded soldiers, and took a deep breath.

"And I suspect... he not only plotted against us, but also against Lü Bu. He even included Yuan Shu in his scheme."

"We only saw Zhou Heng fleeing in a sorry state as he was chased by Lü Bu. When he asked us to attack Xuzhou City, we thought he was trying to protect himself."

"Now I realize that he wasn't trying to protect himself at all; he clearly wanted to eliminate all three of our forces and take over Xuzhou for himself."

"This person's ambition is beyond imagination."

Liu Bei said in a low voice.

"How is that possible?" Zhang Fei and Guan Yu exclaimed in shock. "Isn't Brother's guess too arbitrary? And with his strength, how could he possibly take over Xuzhou all by himself?"

Liu Bei sneered: "Impossible? You underestimate him too much. I thought so at first too, and I even guessed that not only us, but also Lü Bu and Yuan Shu thought so."

"It was precisely because his strength was too weak that no one took him seriously, and he took advantage of that to scheme against all of us."

"Just think about it, in this battle..."

"What did we gain after all our efforts? What did Yuan Shu gain? What did Lü Bu gain?"

"We got nothing."

"On the other hand, Zhou Heng gained far more than just some troops."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei carefully recalled Zhou Heng's performance in the war.

The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became.

"By diverting the trouble eastward, driving away the tigers and wolves, and relieving the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao... in this way, the three major forces in Xuzhou City are all caught in a lose-lose situation, while he himself is the only one who is at ease..."

hiss.

After reviewing the entire sequence of events, even with their confidence, they couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"Brother, do you mean that Zhou Heng schemed against both Lü Bu and Yuan Shu in this war, wanting to seize Xu Province for himself?"

Guan Yu quickly pressed for more information.

"good."

"First, he borrowed Yuan Shu's troops to defeat Lü Bu, causing both Lü Bu and Yuan Shu to suffer heavy losses. Then, he borrowed us to attack Xuzhou, causing both us and Chen Gong to suffer heavy losses. He reaped the benefits without lifting a finger. Do you still think he's simple-minded?"

Liu Bei gritted his teeth.

"Impossible. Even if we and Chen Gong are both severely weakened, how could Zhou Heng possibly take over the entire Xuzhou with just his troops?"

"Moreover, even if we hadn't taken Xuzhou, it should still be in Chen Gong's hands, how could it have fallen into Zhou Heng's?"

Zhang Fei didn't quite believe it either.

“That’s what I thought at first too.” Zhang Fei’s words seemed to remind Liu Bei of something bad, and he said through gritted teeth, “It wasn’t until I asked Mi Zhu and didn’t see him that I thought of this.”

"What?" The two were taken aback.

“The Mi family is the richest family in Xuzhou, with influence throughout the entire city. If they can cooperate with us from the inside to let us into the city, why can’t they let Zhou Heng into the city as well? Besides, the two armies are at war now, and the situation is chaotic. It’s hard to tell who is who. Even if someone really sneaks in, we won’t be able to find out.”

Liu Bei said bitterly.

"Does Brother mean that Zhou Heng's troops have already entered the city?"

"Is he just waiting for us and Chen Gong to be both exhausted, so he can take advantage of the situation and effortlessly seize the entire Xuzhou?"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's faces turned extremely pale.

"That's right, that's why I was so angry just now."

"And that's not all. Logically speaking, Chen Gong shouldn't have been on guard against our attack on Xuzhou, but he was. Who do you think leaked the information?"

Liu Bei nodded.

"Zhou Heng," the two said.

"Exactly."

“Zhou Heng never intended for us to take Xuzhou; his real goal was to make us both suffer heavy losses.”

"So on the one hand, they invited us to attack Xuzhou, and on the other hand, they secretly sent a message to Chen Gong, telling him to be on guard."

"In that case, we will both suffer heavy losses."

"He then secretly sent people to hide in the shadows, reaping the benefits without lifting a finger and taking Xuzhou for free."

"On the surface, it seems like they're giving us Xuzhou for free."

"In reality, they treat us as a group of people who work for free."

"We do all the dirty and hard work, and that's his benefit."

"Damn it."

Guan Yu gritted his teeth.

"What should we do then? Are we just going to be his pawns and suffer the consequences?"

"No way, you do it, I, Old Zhang, won't do it. I'll risk my life for someone else and not get any benefit for myself."

Zhang Fei was so angry that he simply quit.

"That's right, brother, shall we retreat?"

"At worst, we'll give up Xuzhou, but we can't let others make fools of us."

"He wants to take Xuzhou himself."

Guan Yu also didn't want to continue.

Because this is too frustrating. You work yourself to the bone, but everyone else gets all the benefits.

No one could stand it.

"Withdraw? How can we withdraw? We've already attacked Xuzhou. Even if we know it's a trap, it's too late."

Liu Bei shook his head.

"This is an open conspiracy."

“From the moment we attacked Xuzhou, we were locked in a life-or-death struggle with Lü Bu, with no sign of any reconciliation.”

“If we retreat now, we will not only fail to gain Lü Bu’s forgiveness, but we will also be caught in a pincer movement.”

"If I'm not mistaken, Lü Bu should have received the news the moment we attacked Xuzhou, and he's probably on his way back now."