As the saying goes: make the empty appear real, and the real appear empty.

Just as the rebel soldiers thought the Han army was bluffing again, Gongsun Zan led a group of White Horse Cavalry soldiers under the cover of night to sneak towards the rear of the rebel army.

At this time, all the rebel soldiers were asleep and unaware of their surroundings. In addition, Li Xun had already withdrawn all his original guards.

Therefore, the White Horse Cavalry approached the rebel army's grain transport convoy with great success.

"Throw torches!!"

At Gongsun Zan's command, countless torches were thrown at the rebel army's supplies.

In an instant, flames erupted everywhere.

Meanwhile, the secret agents of the Investigation Bureau, who were hiding among the rebels, also took advantage of the chaos to start setting fires everywhere.

In a short while, all of the rebels' grain carts were ablaze.

"Fire! Help!"

Countless rebel soldiers, awakened by the commotion, rose to their feet and tried to extinguish the fire.

Li Xun, who was in charge of guarding the grain supplies, also rushed over with his men immediately.

"The fire is too big to be saved, evacuate immediately!!"

Seeing that all the grain carts were on fire, Li Xun not only did not organize firefighting efforts, but instead led his men away from the area.

Only tens of thousands of burning grain trucks remained at the scene, standing out starkly in the darkness.

"withdraw!!"

Smelling the burnt smell in the air, Gongsun Zan chuckled and then led his men away from the place.

The fire at the rear startled the rebels, who scrambled to their feet in a panic and rushed forward to try to extinguish the flames. However, the fire was too intense and there was no water source, so they could only watch helplessly as cartloads of grain were burned to ashes.

"Where is Li Xun? Where did he go? Why did he allow the enemy to get close to our supply lines?"

Upon arriving at the scene, Zheng Hun, seeing the towering flames before him, grabbed one of his men by the collar with a ferocious expression.

The subordinate stammered, "Boss, Li Xun has escaped with his men..."

"What did you say.....?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hun stared wide-eyed at his subordinate.

"Chief, when Li Xun saw the fire, he not only didn't put it out, but instead led his men away into the distance. Clearly, he had already defected to the Han army!"

"It's over...."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hun stared blankly at the firelight ahead, and then collapsed to the ground.

The next day at dawn, Gongsun Zan, who had successfully evacuated, arrived at the agreed-upon location with Zhu Jun, where Li Xun also arrived with a group of his men.

Zhu Jun summoned Li Xun and Gongsun Zan together to discuss their next move.

"Bo Gui, now that the rebels' supplies have been destroyed, Zheng Hun will definitely send people to Pingyuan and Jinan to requisition supplies. You must immediately lead your troops to intercept them!"

"good!!"

Gongsun Zan nodded, then turned and left, leading his men toward the main road leading to the two places.

Then Zhu Jun looked at Li Xun and said, "Patriarch Li, you should lead your men in two groups and immediately head to Pingyuan and Jinan to trick the city gates open and seize the two cities. Once it is done, I will definitely report to the Emperor and ask for your reward!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xun was overjoyed: "Please rest assured, General Zhu, I will certainly live up to your expectations!"

Zhu Jun smiled and said, "There's no time to lose, Patriarch Li, please go and make the preparations!"

"yes!"

Li Xun respectfully agreed and withdrew.

Right after Li Xun left, Zhu Jun called Zhou Tong in.

"You and your men keep a close watch on Li Xun. If he makes any unusual moves, kill him immediately!"

"yes!!"

Zhou Tong accepted the order and then led his men to follow.

After everything was arranged, Zhu Jun sent someone to inform Li Ying, and also sent a message to Lu Zhi, Huangfu Gui and others.

December seventeenth.

Five days have passed since Lu Zhi's 50,000-strong army confronted Liu Kui's 130,000-strong rebel army in Xindu.

During this period, Liu Kui led his army out of the city several times, hoping to use his numerical advantage to defeat Lu Zhi. However, facing the well-trained and well-equipped Youzhou army, the rebels were clearly outmatched and suffered three consecutive defeats with heavy losses. They had no more than 100,000 soldiers left capable of fighting, while Lu Zhi had lost no more than 3,000 men.

Helpless, Liu Kui had no choice but to defend the city and remain holed up in the open.

Fearing excessive losses from a siege, Lu Zhi remained inactive and chose to continue the siege of Xindu.

Early that morning, a scout dispatched by Zhu Jun hurriedly arrived at Lu Zhijun's camp.

"Reporting to General Lu, an urgent report has arrived from Qingzhou!"

"oh?"

Lu Zhi took the urgent report and examined it carefully.

"Well done, Zhu Gongwei! Well done, Gongsun Bogui!"

After reading Zhu Jun's urgent report, Lu Zhi couldn't help but praise Zhu Jun and Gongsun Zan.

With only 6,000 men, the two men drove Zheng Hun's army of over 100,000 into a desperate situation, demonstrating their formidable strength.

Putting away the urgent report, Lu Zhi looked up outside the tent.

"Someone come here!!"

A guard strode in: "What are your orders, General?"

Lu Zhi: "Go and bring those people here!"

"promise!"

The guards obeyed and left.

Before long, several men followed the guards into Lu Zhi's tent.

After dismissing his guards, Lu Zhi looked at the men and said in a deep voice, "You all must immediately arrange for someone to send a message to Liu Kui!"

"Yes, General!"

Several men respectfully acknowledged the order and then quickly walked outside.

Immediately, General Lu Zhi summoned all the officers in his tent to discuss a plan to defeat the enemy.

Lu Zhi looked at the generals in the tent and said in a deep voice, "Generals, our army has been facing off against the rebels for many days and our morale is high. I am determined to take advantage of this opportunity to break through the enemy's defenses today!"

Deputy General Zhang Huan asked, "Does the general intend to attack the city?"

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