Facing Qin Tian, who had suddenly appeared behind him, Lu Bu turned back to look at Shouchun, a trace of unwillingness in his eyes.
Let us turn the clock back more than ten days, to when Zang Ba and Lei Xu had yet to be persuaded.
Qin Tian and Chen Deng had conspired against Lu Bu, both intending to lure him deep in alone. Thus, though Qin Tian had gained the advantage, he held his troops in place.
Seeing that Qin Tian made no move, Lu Bu was naturally furious and led his troops toward Shouchun.
Such a move was naturally taboo in military strategy, yet it was not without justification.
From an all-seeing perspective, Lu Bu's lone advance was no different from courting death. But from Lu Bu's own perspective, it was not so!
Just as Chen Deng had judged before, from Lu Bu's perspective, there were not many troops in Jiujiang.
As long as he defeated the ten thousand or so garrison troops under Qin Tian, the string of cities north of Jiujiang would all be left short of soldiers and commanders.
Though Qin Tian had defeated Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, his own troops had suffered losses, and he also had prisoners to watch. He lacked the strength to stop their army. This was the perfect chance to seize Jiujiang Commandery.
Likewise, there was no danger at all from Xuzhou. Neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao had marched south, while the only one, Zang Ba, was their ally.
The only uncontrollable factor was Lei Xu's force in Guangling. Since Chen Deng had mentioned it once, Qin Song had kept an eye on Lei Xu's reaction.
Yet ever since Yuan Shu's death, Lei Xu had been crouching in southern Guangling without making a single move.
Thus, both Lu