The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 740 Sun Lang escaped again?

People need food to survive; if you miss a meal, you'll be starving. Even an army needs to eat. If they don't eat, they'll be too weak to even lift a sword, let alone fight.

So, after realizing that neither side could defeat the other, both armies tacitly chose to fight.

However, Li Kuan, who had crossed the river, did not have this good fortune. Instead, he went hungry and mobilized the masses to cut down trees, collect timber, and quickly transport it to the riverbank to begin building a bridge.

At this moment, Tian Yu was several miles away from the Ru River, so he naturally couldn't see Li Kuan's bridge-building activities, but he had scouts.

Tian Yu had just finished eating when he received news that the Han army was building a bridge. He was shocked and rushed to check, only to find that Sun Lang's defensive perimeter was centered on the bridge and had a radius of more than 200 meters. At this distance, the Wei army's arrows could not reach the Han army building the bridge. There was only one way to stop the bridge building: a direct assault.

But why hasn't that damned Xiahou Chong arrived yet? If Xiahou Chong doesn't come, my small force won't be able to take down Sun Lang.

Helpless, Tian Yu sent someone to urge Xiahou Chong again, while ordering the army to prepare and wait patiently for half an hour. If Xiahou Chong had not arrived by then, he would launch a strong attack, and he would not allow Sun Lang to cross the river smoothly, no matter the cost.

If Sun Lang successfully crosses the river, it will only embolden the other spies of the puppet Han regime, and then there will be more trouble to come.

He gave Xiahou Chong half an hour, but Sun Lang didn't give him half an hour. Building a bridge can be done very quickly as long as there is enough timber.

Li Kuan finished building the bridge in less than 45 minutes and crossed the bridge to successfully reunite with Sun Lang.

Sun Lang immediately ordered the baggage train to pass first, followed closely by the weaker troops, while the elite troops on the outer perimeter maintained their formation and continued to guard against Tian Yu.

Seeing that Sun Lang had begun to cross the river, Tian Yu could no longer wait and immediately ordered his army to attack, but it was clearly too late.

Sun Lang's deployment was well-planned: spearmen thrust, swordsmen and shieldmen provided cover, and archers counterattacked. This three-pronged approach gave Tian Yu no chance whatsoever. Tian Yu's attack was utterly useless except for needlessly increasing casualties.

After several attempts, Tian Yu was discouraged again. Facing infantrymen who were well-positioned and ready for battle, the cavalry had no advantage whatsoever.

Fortunately, Xiahou Chong finally arrived at the crucial moment. Tian Yu was overjoyed to see Xiahou Chong arrive and hurriedly went over to report the situation and ask Xiahou Chong to order an attack.

Xiahou Chong led elite troops stationed in Xudu, whose combat strength was no match for the county troops under his command. As long as they were willing to fight to the death, they would definitely be able to break through Sun Lang's outer defense line.

Sun Lang only has one line of defense; once it breaks through, he can immediately charge into the enemy ranks and begin a massacre.

However, after such a long time, the Han army's supply train and inner force had already crossed the river, leaving only the outer force to guard against Tian Yu.

Upon seeing Xiahou Chong arrive, Sun Lang immediately ordered, "Everyone, cross the river immediately and watch your step to avoid stepping into any pits."

While the cooks were preparing food, the other soldiers were not idle. Instead, they dug a three-meter-wide and half-meter-deep horse trap behind the outer army, with bamboo skewers stuck in the pit.

After the horse trap, many smaller pits, each about the size of a bowl, were dug. Each pit was about a foot apart, so that a person could easily avoid the horse, but not necessarily. If a warhorse accidentally stepped into a pit during a charge, it would at least break its leg.

Under Sun Lang's command, the outer army began to rapidly and orderly retreat across the river.

Seeing the Han army's formation change, Xiahou Chong immediately ordered an attack without asking Tian Yu for clarification. Unfortunately, he was still three or four miles away from Sun Lang, and even with the cavalry's speed, it would take time to reach Sun Lang.

When the cavalry charged to the front of the position, they were met with horse traps filled with bamboo spikes. The cavalry, who had been tormented by the bamboo spikes all the way, immediately reined in their horses and slowed down when they saw the traps. However, the cavalry behind them who did not see the traps did not have time to react and continued to charge, and then mercilessly knocked their brothers who had stopped in front of them into the traps.

Seeing this, Sun Lang decisively unleashed a volley of arrows at them. The cavalry, struck head-on, dared not continue their charge. Sun Lang then used the remaining time to urge the army to run forward. Once the entire army was on the bridge, he decisively fled onto the bridge, setting fire to the wooden bridge as he ran, intending to burn it down so that the Wei army could not use it.

Soon, the bridge that Sun Lang had crossed burst into flames, and the fire spurred the troops on the bridge to speed up again.

Urged on by the raging fire, the army successfully crossed the river. Sun Lang stepped onto the south bank, looked back at the fire, breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but exclaim, "We've finally made it! We've finally escaped Tian Yu's pursuit for the time being. That scared the hell out of me!"

This was really dangerous. If Xiahou Chong hadn't delayed them, and if they hadn't been close to the Ru River and arrived at the riverbank in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Li Kuan asked, "What do we do now?"

Sun Lang shrugged and said, "Do you even need to ask? Keep running. You've worked hard building the bridge. Go rest and eat something on the grain cart with the brothers. The rest of you, keep going and try to distance yourself from Tian Yu as soon as possible."

Thanks to the barrier of the Ru River, the army could march without any worries. Sun Lang ordered the army to travel at full speed and enter Jiangxia as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Xiahou Chong and Tian Yu, having avoided the horse traps and pitfalls, rushed to the riverbank. Through the burning flames, they watched Sun Lang calmly depart, their faces growing increasingly grim.

After a long while, Tian Yu stomped his foot and cursed, "Sun Lang got away again! How infuriating!"

He besieged Sun Lang twice after taking office. The first time, he was rescued by an unknown person in Queshan, and this time he escaped again in Rushui because of Xiahou Chong's delay. Damn it...

Watching Sun Lang's departing figure, Tian Yu really wanted to grab Xiahou Chong's collar and shout, "Where the hell did you go? Why are you only arriving now?"

Unfortunately, Xiahou Chong was his superior, and he didn't have the courage to question his superior, so he could only curse Sun Lang.

Xiahou Chong knew that his delay had led to Sun Lang's escape, so he did not refute it but immediately explained, "It's not that I didn't want to come as soon as possible, but there were many bamboo skewers stuck on the way, which forced me to clear them and be on guard!"

"I originally thought the bamboo skewers along the way would be very dense, and that enemy troops would launch a surprise attack when I stepped on a bamboo skewer, so I walked more carefully. But after I got through, I found that the bamboo skewers were not as dense as I had imagined, and I did not encounter any enemy attacks. I was tricked."

Upon hearing this, Tian Yu frowned and pondered, "That's not right. The rebels in Runan are all around Sun Lang. I've been keeping a close eye on Sun Lang, so he didn't have time to insert the bamboo skewers. Who inserted these bamboo skewers?"

Xiahou Chong was also thinking about this question, and shook his head, saying, "I don't know. I estimate that the rebels who joined forces with Sun Lang were not all of the rebels; there were others left behind."

Tian Yu shook his head and said, "The elite rebels have all joined forces with Sun Lang. Even those who didn't come are just old, weak, sick, and disabled people who can't cause any trouble. How dare they provoke you? Besides, you came in secret this time. There shouldn't be too many people who know your purpose in coming to Dingying, right?"

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Chong's expression changed drastically, and he quickly said, "When I was in Dingying, I sealed off the city gates and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving. The only person who ever entered or left Dingying was my advisor, Li Geng, but he came here to do business."

Upon hearing this, Tian Yu had a sudden inspiration and quickly said, "Tell me more about this Li Geng, let's start from the beginning."

This leads to a problem: Xiahou Chong's advisor, Li Geng, left Xudu after Sun Lang was besieged at Queshan, and then passed through Dingying on his way back to Xudu after Sun Lang escaped. Is that really such a coincidence?

Xiahou Chong wasn't stupid. After figuring out the reason, he cursed, "Damn Li Geng! How dare I trust him so much! I'm going back to Xuchang to deal with him right now!"

As he was about to mount his horse and leave, Tian Yu grabbed the reins and advised, "Li Geng is just a spy with little destructive power. The most urgent task is to deal with Sun Lang. Sun Lang has 20,000 men under his command, and judging from the direction he is retreating, he is most likely heading towards Jiangxia or Nanyang. Those are the front lines of Wei and Han, where Han troops are stationed. If Sun Lang cooperates with the Han border troops from within, the consequences will be unimaginable."