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

Inside Xiling City.

After receiving Shen Yi's order, Sun Lang, who had rested for several days, led an army of 10,000 to set off again. This time, their target was Sui County. If they could arrive in time, they could completely surround Wen Ping and Tian Yu and deal a heavy blow to the Wei army.

The reason they hadn't set off earlier was because they were worried that Tian Yu's cavalry would ambush them halfway. But now that Zhang Fei has led his cavalry here, if Tian Yu dares to make any more moves, Sun Lang can join Zhang Fei and Shen Yi in a pincer attack and eliminate Tian Yu first.

So Sun Lang had no more worries and could leave with peace of mind.

Moreover, because Zhang Bao had gone ahead, Sun Lang didn't need to rush, so he brought a whole month's worth of provisions, as Shen Yi had instructed in advance.

Carrying so much stuff naturally slowed things down, and it took Sun Lang seven days to reach Sui County. By the time he arrived, Zhang Bao and Wei Qiao had already clashed with the Wei army.

Sun Lang entered the city and successfully met up with Zhang Bao and Wei Qiao, then went straight to the point: "What's the situation now?"

Covered in blood and looking exhausted, Zhang Bao said, "The Wei army arrived three days ago, a full 20,000 troops, led by Xu Huang. Fortunately, we set up a defensive line in the mountains in advance, but with our limited manpower, we can only hold out for two more days at most. If you don't come soon, we will have no choice but to give our lives for the Han Dynasty."

After all, it was Xu Huang who came, and his troops were several times larger than theirs. It would be good if Zhang Bao could hold the bridge for three days, even with the special terrain of the Suizao Corridor. Without the terrain advantage, let alone three days, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold out for even three hours.

Although they managed to hold on, the enormous losses were heartbreaking for Zhang Bao. He was leading cavalry, but they were being used as infantry to defend the city. Who wouldn't be heartbroken?

Sun Lang said, "You guys rest. I'll take over the defense from now on."

Although Sun Lang's army was also a bit tired, it was much better than the defending troops, whose soldiers were almost all wounded. Moreover, there were more of them, so they could work in two shifts.

With Sun Lang's support, the Suizhou defense line was quickly stabilized. Now it was up to Zhang Fei and Shen Yi. If they could annihilate Wen Ping and Tian Yu in time to come to their aid, the battle would be completely won.

It's 500 li from Suizhou to Zhuxian. If the messenger changes horses but not the rider, he can get there in a day.

That noon, Shen Yi received news from Sui County and immediately summoned Zhang Fei to discuss the matter.

As soon as Zhang Fei entered the main tent, he roared in his hoarse voice, "What? Sun Lang has finally arrived in Sui County?"

Shen Yi handed over the letter and said, "That's right, we can launch a strong attack on Zhu County and completely eliminate Wen Ping and Tian Yu. Currently, our army has nearly 50,000 troops, which is more than twice the strength of Wen and Tian. We have more than enough strength to deal with them."

When Shen Yi crossed the river, he only brought 20,000 troops. After seizing the beachhead, he transferred all the troops stationed on other defensive lines, just like Wen Ping, increasing his strength to 30,000. After deducting those killed or seriously wounded, there were still 25,000 left.

Half of Sun Lang's 20,000 troops are still in Xiling City. It is entirely feasible to spare 5,000, which would bring the total to 30,000.

In addition, as time went on and the news spread, the Wu troops who had surrendered to Wei and were scattered throughout Jiangxia arrived one after another. Together with the three thousand who followed Ding Feng to attack Wen Ping, the total number of troops reached over ten thousand, which is more than forty thousand.

With the addition of Zhang Fei's three thousand cavalry, they had an absolute advantage in troop strength over Wen Ping and Tian Yu.

This doesn't even include the six or seven thousand men Zhou Shao took to the Dabie Mountains, or the bandits he recently recruited. Even if Shen Yi retreats back to Jiangnan now, he's already won the Jiangxia battle.

Zhang Fei exclaimed excitedly, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get him!"

Although they did not engage in battle with the Wei army during this period, it did not mean they had done nothing. Shen Yi had already ordered people to cross the river to cut timber, build siege equipment, and make all preparations for the decisive battle.

Therefore, with Zhang Fei's order, the entire army of 40,000 was mobilized and headed straight for Zhu County.

The Jiangbei camp was only a short distance from the county seat of Zhu County, and the army arrived at the city in just one hour.

Wen Ping stood atop the city wall, his face showing an unprecedented solemnity as he looked at the vast Han army outside the city.

A few days ago, when Yang Taibing was defeated and fled back to the city, he knew he was doomed.

The best course of action at the time would have been to continue sending troops to support Suizhou, but he didn't have that many troops to send, and Zhang Fei was leading his cavalry right in front of him, so even if he wanted to send them, he couldn't.

If the infantry can't be sent out, what about the cavalry?

Not at all.

Wen Ping had wanted Tian Yu to lead cavalry to support Suizhou. Even if they couldn't capture Suizhou before Zhang Bao, they could still join forces with the reinforcements from Nanyang to attack Suizhou from both sides.

Unfortunately, Zhang Fei was on guard against this move and stuck to Tian Yu like glue, preventing him from moving. The two sides even fought a battle on the plains, and although Tian Yu had more troops, he did not fare well.

In the end, Wen Ping had no choice but to abandon his plan to rescue Suizhou. He ordered Tian Yu to lead cavalry to patrol outside the city, while he himself brought all the infantry into the city to prepare for a desperate defense and await reinforcements.

He believed that Xu Huang and Xiahou Shang would save him, and he also believed that the two of them would definitely be able to break through the Suizhou defense line and enter Jiangxia; it was just a matter of time.

So all he has to do right now is hold the city and hold out until reinforcements arrive.

Then came the interesting part: the Han army had to breach the city before the Wei reinforcements arrived, and the Wei army had to hold off the Han army's attack and defend the city before the reinforcements arrived. With both sides racing against time, you can imagine how fierce the battle was.

As soon as Shen Yi arrived at the city walls, he ordered a fierce attack. At the same time, he sent a large army to dig a circle of horse traps five miles outside the city walls, essentially drawing a circle to surround himself. This served two purposes: first, to tell his own army that there was no way to retreat and that they could only desperately advance to break through the city; and second, to guard against Tian Yu's cavalry, whose whereabouts were unknown. If Tian Yu's cavalry wanted to take advantage of the chaos of the Han army's attack to charge into the Han army's formation, sorry, they would have to cross the horse traps first.

As for Zhang Fei, he naturally led his cavalry to patrol around the perimeter of the horse trap, waiting for Tian Yu to appear before charging forward.

This plan is good, but the amount of work involved in digging the horse trap is huge. Fortunately, Zhu County is a small county town with a length and width of only a dozen miles. If it were a large city like Xiling or Jiangling, it would be better to forget about it. With the current infrastructure capabilities, it would be impossible to complete.

Under Shen Yi's command, the Han army deployed siege engines, battering rams, catapults, and ballistae simultaneously. The ballistae, in particular, were all triple-bow ballistae capable of shooting 700 paces. Their range was greater than that of the catapults positioned high on the city walls, and their power was immense, easily piercing armor. A single arrow easily pierced through the defenders on the city walls, leaving Wen Ping's eyelids twitching.

Even more ingenious was that Shen Yi also built several special chariots, which were equipped with a chassis, side panels, and an arched dome, resembling cave dwellings, to block all attacks from the city wall. He then placed them on both sides of the moat and sent people in with hammers and chisels to start chiseling, intending to use this method to break down the city wall.

The city wall of Zhu County was made of rammed earth and was only a little over two meters thick. If water dripped on it day and night, it might actually collapse. The main problem was that the Han army's tools were too good, which gave Shen Yi the possibility of collapsing it. Anyway, it wouldn't take many people, so he might as well give it a try.

Faced with Shen Yi's relentless bombardment, Wen Ping refused to admit defeat. While maintaining a strict defense, he also sent troops out of the city to launch attacks from time to time. The two sides staged a classic offensive and defensive battle that could be written into textbooks under the city of Zhu.

Compared to Wen Ping, Tian Yu was more frustrated. He wanted to lead his cavalry in a surprise attack, but no matter where he went, he was met with a barrage of arrows. It was bad enough that he was attacked, but the worst part was that Zhang Fei, that sly fellow with the ringed eyes, also showed up.

After his first sneak attack, Zhang Fei kept an eye on him. Wherever he went, Zhang Fei followed. When he tried to chase after Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei would turn around and run away.

Zhang Fei's idea was simple: I won't fight you, but you can't escape my sight either.

The biggest challenge for Zhang Fei was finding Tian Yu; now that he had found him, he had to stick close to him.

Two days later, the trap pit around the city was completed. Now, even without Zhang Fei, Tian Yu would not have been able to launch a successful sneak attack.

In addition, thanks to the tireless efforts of the soldiers who were breaking through the wall, several large pits about a meter deep were dug out of the city wall. With one meter of the two-meter-thick wall removed, is it still safe?

the answer is negative.

Fearing the city wall would suddenly collapse and bury the soldiers digging it, Shen Yi ordered them to retreat after digging only one meter. He then assembled dozens of catapults and launched a fierce attack on the approximately twenty-meter section of the city wall between the two digging pits. After two days of being bombarded by catapults and nearly half of the wall being breached, the wall, which was already severely tilted by gravity, finally could not withstand the pressure and collapsed.