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

Liao Hua, carrying Guan Yu's banner, raced all the way and successfully arrived in Xiangyang City before nightfall.

Without taking a break, they immediately changed into Wu army flags and armor and launched a feint attack on Xiangyang City.

He only brought twenty men, so a full-scale attack was impractical. He decided to fire a few arrows as a token gesture.

Unexpectedly, the Wei army defending the city was very vigilant and returned fire before they could get close. Liao Hua had no choice but to retreat out of range and shout at the top of his lungs:

"Listen up, Wei dogs on the city walls! Xiangyang is now under the control of our Wu army. If you know what's good for you, retreat and surrender the city now, or else when Grand Commander Lü arrives with his army, everything will be destroyed and it will be too late to regret it!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a response came from the city walls. A Wei soldier with an astonishingly loud voice roared, "You damned Han soldiers, stop trying to sow discord! When did the Wu soldiers stop speaking Wu dialect and start speaking Nanjun dialect? How come I didn't know?"

Liao Hua: “…”

Wow, how did the Wei army become so smart? That shouldn't be the case.

Having been exposed, there was no need to pretend anymore. Liao Hua simply laid his cards on the table and said, "Lu Meng has already led his army here and will soon be at the gates of Xiangyang. I came here to remind you to take precautions and not to be caught off guard. Farewell."

After saying that, he turned and left without lingering. His mission was to return to Shu and report the battle situation to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, not to watch the Wu and Wei armies fight like dogs.

Not long after Liao Hua left, two Wei generals appeared on the city wall: Cao Ren and Xu Huang.

After learning the reason, Cao Ren frowned and said, "Didn't they say Guan Yu retreated to Linju? Why did he come to Xiangyang?"

Xu Huang sneered, "Only a dozen or so people came. How could they possibly be Guan Yu's main force?"

"I guess Guan Yu must have anticipated the ambush at Linju, so he sent troops to attack us, trying to lure the Wu army to Xiangyang and thus open a breach at Linju."

"If Wu's army is lured to Xiangyang, then there will be no ambush at Linju. If there is no ambush at Linju, then Guan Yu can enter Shu smoothly, right?"

Cao Ren angrily cursed, "Damn Guan Yu, he's already at his wit's end and he's still struggling. How come he's just like that big-eared thief who can't be killed no matter how hard he tries?"

"I hope Lü Meng won't fall for the trap and won't leave Linju. This is the best opportunity to kill Guan Yu. If Guan Yu escapes, we'll be in big trouble."

Even now, Cao Ren still feels lingering fear when Guan Yu is mentioned; he was truly terrified of Guan Yu this time.

As fate would have it, what you fear most is what happens. No sooner had he finished speaking than a scout rushed over and said, "General, something terrible has happened! The Wu army is coming, carrying a banner with the character 'Lu' on it, and they are less than thirty li away."

"Fuck..."

Cao Ren and Xu Huang simultaneously cursed, exchanging a glance and saying in unison, "That idiot Lü Meng."

As they cursed, a sense of helplessness welled up inside them at having such incompetent teammates.

It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that Guan Yu must have taken advantage of Lü Meng's arrival in Xiangyang to escape through Linju, and he might already be in Fangling by now.

Damn Lü Meng, do you know what letting this ancestor go means? You're in big trouble!

Amidst their insults, Lü Meng led his army to appear outside Xiangyang City.

Looking at the Wu army's battle flags fluttering below the city, Cao Ren felt an urge to go out of the city and strangle Lü Meng. He angrily cursed, "Go and negotiate with this idiot and tell him to get lost."

“Look…” Xu Huang rode out of the city in a gondola and communicated from a distance of three hundred paces away.

The moment Xu Huang appeared, Lü Meng realized something was wrong. If Guan Yu had truly surrendered to Wei, would Xu Huang still have come out to negotiate with him?

"Farewell."

Unwilling to lose face in front of Xu Huang, Lü Meng decisively turned and fled, even faster than when he arrived.

Xu Huang called out to his retreating figure, "The Han army has fled towards Fangling. Guan Yu has probably also retreated from Linju to Fangling. If you set off now, you might be able to catch up."

Lü Meng answered with actions, turning around on the spot.

He believed Xu Huang was telling the truth, because Yiling and Zigui had already been occupied by Lu Xun, and Guan Yu could only enter Shu by going through the three eastern counties.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. He searched for five or six days in the mountains of Fangling but couldn't find any trace of Guan Yu. He cursed angrily, "Damn it, that red-faced thief got away again."

Pan Zhang asked, "Then what should we do?"

Lu Meng said unwillingly, "Let's go back to Linju. We can't waste any more time on Guan Yu. Otherwise, if the Wei army marches south, all our efforts will have been in vain."

The army returned to Linju along the mountain road. As soon as they arrived at the city, the garrison commander rushed over and bowed, saying, "Grand Commander, you've finally returned! Two days ago, someone discovered Guan Yu's trail at Huarong Road. That red-faced thief may have gone to Jingnan."

Enraged, Lü Meng kicked the city wall and shouted, "No wonder we couldn't find Guan Yu anywhere! It turns out this red-faced thief was playing a diversionary tactic on us!"

"Wen Gui (Pan Zhang's courtesy name), you take two thousand men and rush to Huarong Road to pursue Guan Yu. Under no circumstances should he have the opportunity to recruit soldiers in Jingnan."

"I will report to the lord again to send troops to support you. This time, we must suppress Guan Yu in Jingnan. Even if we can't suppress him, we must force him into the Wuling Mountains. We must not let him stay in Jingzhou and cause trouble."

“Yes…” Pan Zhang dared not delay and turned to leave.

Poor Pan Wengui, after wandering around in the mountains for so long, he didn't even have time to drink a sip of water before he had to leave again.

What's even more pitiful is that he went in the wrong direction. By the time he crossed Huarong Road, Guan Yu would probably have already reached Dabie Mountain.