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

"I'm going to remove the rope from your mouth now. You'd better listen to me quietly, without shouting or cursing at me."

"If you agree, I will let you go."

"Otherwise... I'll have no choice but to tie you up and take you back."

"Blink if you can understand."

After dismissing all the maids serving him, Zhou Heng spoke.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Lu Lingqi blinked frantically, making muffled noises.

It seemed like he wanted to say something, but with a ball in his mouth, he couldn't get it out.

This ball is such a wicked good thing!

"Alright, I'll take the rope off your mouth now."

Zhou Heng nodded in satisfaction.

As he spoke, he reached out and untied the rope from her mouth.

However, he soon regretted it, because the moment the rope was untied, he heard all sorts of vulgar words in Zhou Heng's ears.

"You wicked villain, how dare you treat me like this! My father will never let you get away with this! I'm going to... Waaah!"

Zhou Heng immediately stuffed the small ball in.

"Are you unable to understand human language? In that case, I'll speak to you. If you're willing, I can have someone untie you. If not, then you can stay tied up like this."

"Besides, you mentioned your father, Lü Bu. If he were truly capable, would you be tied up here?"

So stop talking nonsense.

"You're testing my patience, understand?"

Zhou Heng said coldly.

After saying that, he didn't care whether she understood or not, and directly stated his purpose.

"Now that Lü Bu has suffered a series of major defeats, he is no longer capable of taking Xuzhou City."

“I’m not afraid of your father at all.”

"Because your father was like a stray dog ​​in my hands."

"There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of."

"I just didn't want to go through all that trouble and be constantly harassed by Lü Bu."

“If you are willing to persuade your father to withdraw his troops, I can let him garrison Xiaopei.”

"Even the prefectures and counties of Xuzhou, if he wants to take them, let him. I don't care. I will just stay in Xiapi for a year, and then I will leave."

"But before that, in order to prevent your father from breaking his promise, I will leave you and your stepmother in Xiapi."

"After all, you know your father's character; he's fickle and has no loyalty, righteousness, or filial piety whatsoever."

“After I leave in a year, I will naturally return Xiapi to your father.”

"I will reunite you and your daughter in the future."

"If you agree, just nod; if you don't, then forget it."

"Lu Bu and Chen Gong have suffered consecutive defeats, and now their combined troops do not exceed ten thousand."

"I have 20,000 troops at my disposal, and Xiapi has abundant grain and strong defenses."

"Easy to defend, difficult to attack."

“Your father’s army was not strong, and he did not have any siege equipment.”

"They can't do anything to me."

"The only reason I'm talking to you is because I don't want to go through all that trouble."

"Of course, as a gesture of good faith, I can release you if you agree."

"And I will give you the freedom to move around in Xiapi."

"But you must not leave Xiapi on your own, and you must not run away to your father."

"understand?"

Zhou Heng revealed his purpose in one breath.

As mentioned before, Zhou Heng never intended to occupy the entire Xuzhou.

To reiterate, although Xuzhou is a good place, it is a place of constant warfare, with no natural defenses, and cannot be used as a follow-up strategy.

The reason for taking Xiapi was simply to have a place to settle down before dealing with Yuan Shu.

At the same time, he also dealt with the threats posed by Lu Bu, Liu Bei, and others.

As for why they didn't completely occupy Xuzhou...

Because he knew very well that with his current strength, he was not capable of completely occupying Xuzhou.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he seems to have dealt with the forces of Lü Bu, Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu all at once.

But it was only temporary.

Yuan Shu, in particular, had an incredibly powerful army under his command.

You used Lu Bu's strength to defeat Yuan Shu this time.

What about next time?

What about next time?

Therefore, occupying Xuzhou was the worst option for him.

And he hasn't forgotten.

Besides Yuan Shu, there was another major threat: Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was ambitious; how could he possibly give up such a lucrative prize as Xuzhou?

Moreover, Xuzhou is close to his Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

If Xuzhou were to fall into Yuan Shu's hands, it would definitely not be a good thing for him.

Therefore, at this time, during this period of power vacuum in Xuzhou.

Cao Cao would surely not be able to resist the temptation of loneliness.

If at this time, Zhou Heng simultaneously occupied all six counties of Xuzhou.

So he would have to face both Yuan Shu and Cao Cao's forces at the same time.

With his current strength, he is completely unable to resist.

This is why he said he would only occupy Xiapi, and let Lü Bu take the rest.

Firstly, Lu Bu's strength was still quite formidable to him, and he didn't want to completely offend Lu Bu.

Secondly, it would also allow Lü Bu to act as a shield, as his presence in Xiaopei could help resist Yuan Shu and Cao Cao.

Thirdly, shift the target.

He only occupied the small town of Xiapi, while the entire Xuzhou was in Lü Bu's hands.

I ask you, were Yuan Shu and Cao Cao fighting against Lü Bu, the ruler of Xu Province?

Or should we fight a small-time bandit like Zhou Heng?

This is why he wanted to talk to Lü Lingqi.

To put it bluntly, they were using Lü Bu as a shield.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Lü Lingqi started sobbing again.

"Are you telling the truth?"

After Zhou Heng removed the small ball from her mouth, Lü Lingqi asked in surprise.

"Of course it's true."

Zhou Heng nodded.

"How can I trust you? What if you're just lying to me and trying to get my father to withdraw his troops? Wouldn't that mean I'd be ruining my father's life?"

"Lu Lingqi said."

Zhou Heng shook his head: "If you used your brain, you wouldn't have said such stupid things."

Lu Lingqi was furious: "You.............."

Zhou Heng: "If you curse me again, I'll put the ball back in until you can't curse anymore."

Lü Lingqi: "........."

Zhou Heng: "Use your own brain and you'll know whether what I'm saying is true or false. After all, my strength is not enough to occupy the entire six counties of Xuzhou. If it weren't for your father, I would have been devoured by the other warlords in no time."

Lu Lingqi remained silent: "Since you don't want to occupy Xuzhou, then why did you secretly plot to seize it?"

Zhou Heng looked at him like he was an idiot: "Did I want to take Xuzhou? If your father hadn't sent troops to attack me, I don't know how happy I would be on the mountain right now. Taking Xuzhou was just for self-preservation."

Lü Lingqi was embarrassed: "........."

She discovered that the time seemed to be exactly as Zhou Heng had said.