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

Chapter 397 Lu Xun's Doomsday (6)

Guan Xing stood on the arrow tower, observing the battlefield. When he saw Ding Feng captured, he excitedly slapped the railing and said, "Well done! The one who grabbed Ding Feng's sword hilt deserves a second-class merit. I will personally deliver the medal and pension to his family later. The garrison that captured Ding Feng deserves a collective second-class merit."

This time, it wasn't about using tricks and coercion, but rather capturing a high-ranking Wu general head-on. This signifies that the Han army has transformed from a ragtag force that only knew how to fight guerrilla warfare into a fierce and elite force capable of fighting tough battles. This deserves to be commended and publicized.

Guan Xing then said, "Liu Zan, go and bring Ding Feng to the arrow tower so that the Wu army can see with their own eyes that their General Ding has been captured."

Liu Zan: "..."

What do you mean by doing this? Where does General Ding stand? Doesn't he have any dignity?

But it’s none of his business!

Liu Zan climbed down the arrow tower using a ladder, then found a rope and ran to the front line to take Ding Feng away. He tied Ding Feng up with the rope several times for safety, then carried him to the arrow tower where Guan Xing was located and splashed him with water to wake him up. Pointing to the sky, he laughed and said, "General Ding, we meet again. General Guan is waiting for you upstairs. Go up."

Ding Feng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into a rage and said, "I won't go up. A scholar can be killed but not humiliated. If you have the guts, then kill me."

Even a fool could tell what Guan Xing's purpose was, and he wasn't about to go up there and embarrass himself.

Liu Zan sneered, "Killing you is easy, but do you think you can escape by dying? We invited you up, but you didn't. So we'll just have to find a rope and hang you on the arrow tower. It doesn't matter whether you're alive or dead on the arrow tower, as long as the Wu army can recognize you as Ding Feng."

Ding Feng was furious. He spat a mouthful of phlegm in Liu Zan's face and cursed, "Liu Zhengming, you're a traitor!"

Liu Zan calmly wiped away the phlegm, then pulled Ding Feng's cloak to wipe his face and said, "We can discuss whether I am a traitor later. Now, let's talk about your question. Do you want to stand on the arrow tower or hang on it? If you don't answer, I'll take it as you choosing the second option."

Ding Feng: "..."

Standing on the arrow tower and being watched by others is certainly unpleasant, but being hung on the arrow tower seems even more humiliating.

After struggling for a while, Ding Fengtian had no choice but to get up and climb the ladder to the top of the arrow tower. Just as he was about to reach the top, Guan Xing appeared, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up.

It had to be mentioned, as Ding Feng's hands were bound, and he couldn't climb the arrow tower on his own.

After Guan Xing lifted him up, he took half a step back, clasped his hands in a fist and smiled, "General Ding, we have finally met. It is my great honor."

Ding Fengshao's face turned bright red. He had barely escaped from Baopingyu last time, but who would have thought he'd fall into Guan Xing's hands again so soon? Damn it...

Ding Feng remained silent, and Guan Xing did not press him for details. Instead, he put his arm around Ding Feng's neck and led him to the railing to continue observing the battlefield.

Guan Xing pointed excitedly at the battlefield downstairs and said, "See? Liu A is surrounded too. He'll probably be here to keep you company soon."

After Ding Feng was captured, the hundreds of Wu soldiers who had charged with him were overwhelmed by the surging Han army. Seeing that Ding Feng was captured and there was no hope of breaking out, these Wu soldiers had no choice but to surrender.

Then Deng Hong regrouped his troops and charged towards Liu A. Faced with this situation, Liu A had no choice but to abandon his retreat and charge forward with all his might, just like Ding Feng.

It wasn't that he didn't want to retreat, but that he couldn't. First of all, Liu A was at the forefront, and if he turned around, he would run into his personal guards behind him.

Secondly, while Wu's army couldn't directly charge into the wall of fire, they could be hit by arrows. Many of Wu's soldiers had been shot down by the Han army's arrow rain and were blocked from retreating on the bamboo rafts covering the wall of fire. In addition, the fire continued to spread, and the bamboo rafts on top had been set ablaze. It was impossible to retreat back along the bamboo rafts; they could only charge.

Left with no other choice, Liu A charged forward and soon found himself surrounded just like Ding Feng. But this time, Deng Hong had learned his lesson and didn't draw his sword to fight. Instead, he took his bow and arrow and hid in the crowd, aiming and waiting. When Liu A opened up during his fight with the Han army, Deng Hong decisively let go, and the arrow passed through the gap in the crowd, successfully piercing Liu A's neck from above his left shoulder.

Liu A was killed in battle, and the remaining troops surrendered.

Deng Hong then led his men to quickly clean up the battlefield and used catapults to throw all the prepared flammable materials into the wall of fire.

Guan Xing stood on the arrow tower observing everything. Seeing Liu A shot down, he turned his head and laughed, "General Ding, how long do you think it will take Lu Xun to break through this wall of fire, or rather, after Lu Xun extinguishes the wall of fire, will the Wu army still have the courage to charge again?"

Ding Feng remained silent, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, a chill spreading through his heart; he was in despair.

Guan Xing's home advantage was too great, so great that Wu Jun's charge looked like a deliberate suicide mission. If Lu Xun continued to charge like that, Guan Xing alone could wipe out the remaining 20,000 Wu soldiers without waiting for Shen Yi to arrive.

But would Lu Xun abandon the charge?

The answer is no, and the busy figures behind the firewall are the best proof of that.

At this moment, Li Yi was struggling to dig a pit behind the wall of fire, throwing all the excavated soil towards the wall, but the fire was too intense, and that little bit of soil was like a drop in the ocean.

Despite this, Li Yi was still not giving up. While leading his men to shovel soil, he also sent people to continue digging in the first trench that Guan Xing had dug, in an attempt to dig out the groundwater.

This is in the Jiangnan region, not the water-scarce Northwest. If we dig a few more meters, we should be able to find groundwater. With water, it will be easier to put out the fire.

While Li Yi was busy putting out the fire, Lu Xun was still beating the drums. His arms were swinging so fast they left afterimages, but he didn't dare stop. He knew that the Wu army's remaining morale depended entirely on the drumbeats. As long as the drums were beating, the Wu army could barely hold on. But if the drums stopped, the Wu army's morale would collapse like an avalanche. So he had to keep beating them. He would beat them as hard as he could, until they were completely defeated.

Encouraged by the drumbeats, Li Yi finally extinguished some of the flames and cleared a passage three zhang wide, only to be horrified to find that Ding Feng and Liu Adu were no longer there, and only the Han army was waiting in full battle array.

Li Yi dared not look any longer and quickly turned around to throw himself back into the firefighting work, but he forgot that the Han army would not stand by and watch him put out the fire.

After observing the Wu army's movements through the passage cleared by them, the Han army simultaneously launched their archers and catapults, striking a fatal blow against the Wu army, adhering to the principle of striking while the iron was hot.

But Li Yi seemed to have anticipated this, and while quickly setting up a shield wall to block, he ordered the archers to launch a counterattack. At the same time, Lu Xun moved the ballistae forward by dozens of meters and fired all the remaining ballistae arrows at the wall of fire.

Now is not the time to be stingy with arrows. We must extinguish the fire wall as soon as possible at all costs and launch another attack. Otherwise, the longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Wu army.

Undeterred, Lu Xun actively mobilized his forces and launched another desperate attack on the Han army.

Meanwhile, in the corridor.

Shen Yi led his troops for a whole day but still hadn't reached Yushan. After thinking for a moment, he called Zhou Shan over and said, "This is too slow. I'm afraid General Guan's side won't be able to hold out."

At the current speed, it will probably take another two days to reach Guan Xing, which is too long and the opportunity will be lost.

Zhou Shan was an introverted child. Upon hearing this, he didn't mince words and went straight to the point: "What does the general want me to do?"

Shen Yi said, "You will lead 10,000 men as the vanguard and rush to the battlefield as fast as possible. Remember, as fast as possible. Don't worry about being ambushed along the way. Even if you are wiped out, I will still be there for you. So you can go all out and I will cover for you."

He led a full 30,000 troops, with 10,000 detached and 20,000 remaining. He dared not say anything else, but with 20,000 troops, he could definitely hold the line and wait for Guan Xing's rescue when the Wu army attacked.

That's why he had the confidence to say to Zhou Shan, "You can do whatever you want, I'll cover for you."

"Yes..." Zhou Shan clasped his hands in a bow, turned and left. He returned to his formation, mustered his troops, abandoned his baggage, and with only half a day's rations, marched at full speed towards Lu Xun.