My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chen Tai's startling shout sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

Cao Chong's smile vanished, and his gaze quickly turned to Chen Tai:
"Xuanbo, what do you mean by this? Why are we facing such a calamity?"

Chen Tai put down his soup bowl and asked in a deep voice:

“Young Master Cang Shu, in the past three days, that big-eared thief has suddenly demolished all four walls of my compound. Don’t you find his actions suspicious?”

Cao Chong felt a slight jolt in his heart.

According to Chen Tai, he had his suspicions beforehand.

Xin Pi speculated that Liu Bei had demolished the walls in preparation for a strong attack, making it easier for the Chu army to enter and exit.

After all, the city currently has enough food supplies to support 20,000 soldiers for about four more months.

With such a long period of time, the Chu army, whose mental and physical strength were already at their limit, definitely wouldn't last until that moment.

Having no other choice, Liu Bei naturally had to abandon the long-term siege strategy and launch a direct attack to break through the city.

With this explanation, it seems reasonable that Liu Bei dismantled the earthen walls surrounding the city.

“Xuanbo, didn’t we already reach a decision about Liu Bei’s decision to demolish the earthen wall?”

Xinpi countered with a question.

Chen Tai stood up and pointed towards the outside of the city:
"We were all wrong. That big-eared scoundrel demolished the walls not to make it easier to attack the city, but to cut off the Zhang River and flood our Ye City!"

These words caused an uproar in the hall.

Cao Chong's expression changed drastically. He leaped up and rushed to the hall entrance, looking towards the direction outside the city.

"When Your Majesty attacked and destroyed the Yuan clan, you once diverted the Zhang River to flood Ye City and then breached the city."

"After Liu Bei besieged the city, he could have used the same methods to break through my Ye City, so why did he hesitate to use them?"

"That's because he's a hypocrite, worried about the lives of the city's residents, and afraid of being blamed for harming them. That's why he hesitated to act rashly."

"But last time, in order to relieve our food shortage, we had to drive all the people of the city out of the city and hand them over to that big-eared thief. In this way, the big-eared thief was freed from all restraints."

“I suspect that the big-eared thief has been secretly building new camps on the surrounding high ground in the past three days and has been secretly moving the soldiers besieging the city to the high ground.”

"Now that he's dismantling the walls, it must be the final step. He's planning to breach the Zhangshui dike and flood our Ye City!"

With a pained expression, Chen Tai trembled as he voiced his conjecture.

Cao Chong's face turned ashen, cold sweat poured down his forehead, and a chill rose from the soles of his feet, instantly enveloping his entire body.

"Yes, you're right, Liu Bei will definitely breach the Zhang River and flood my Ye City!"

"In the Battle of Shouchun, Uncle Zixiao fell for Yang Xiu's trick and drove all the people of the city out of Shouchun, which made Liu Bei lose his fear and dig the Fei River to flood Shouchun!"

"How could I have forgotten this lesson from the past?"

"Damn it, damn it all~~"

Cao Chong slammed his fist against the door frame, his voice filled with remorse and self-reproach.

Chen Tai sighed and comforted him:

“Young Master Cang Shu, there is no need to blame yourself. We had no choice but to do this. If we did not drive the people out of the city, we could not get their food supplies. Our army had already run out of food and collapsed last month. How could we have held on until now?”

At this time.

Startled awake, Xinpi stamped his feet and complained:

“Young Master Cangshu, if I may be so bold as to speak, you should not have shown such womanly compassion to those common people.”

"If we had listened to Pi's advice and forcibly requisitioned the people's grain and fodder, we could have solved the food shortage and used them as hostages, making the big-eared thief hesitant to act. Why would we have allowed the big-eared thief to resort to such a vicious scheme now?"

Xin Pi disregarded the distinction between lord and subject and launched into a tirade of complaints against Cao Chong.

Cao Chong's face turned pale and then red, unsure how to respond to Xin Pi's complaints.

Just then, a guard rushed in and reported that the guard at the east gate had urgently reported something unusual outside the east gate.

Cao Chong and Chen Tai exchanged a glance, and then rushed out together.

Xin Pi, Xiahou Chong, and the others hurriedly followed.

The group left the mansion and headed straight for the east gate.

When they reached the city tower, the Wei soldiers on patrol were in complete chaos.

The soldiers pointed and gestured towards the outside of the city, their expressions filled with fear as if they had seen a ghost.

Cao Chong, without even catching his breath, glanced outside the city and gasped in shock.

Under the glow of the blazing fire, the vast torrent could be faintly seen, rolling in from the direction of the Zhang River.

The Chu army's eastern encirclement camp was quickly submerged in the flood, with tents, supplies, and other items being swept away by the torrent and heading towards Ye City.

What we see before us is without a doubt that Liu Bei has already breached the embankment of the Zhang River.

"Look! The Chu soldiers in the water are all straw figures in disguise. That big-eared thief has already moved his camp to the high ground!"

Chen Tai, with his sharp eyes, was the first to spot the clue and pointed at the "Chu soldiers" floating in the torrent, shouting.

Cao Chong looked closely and saw that it was indeed as Chen Tai had said.

Those tens of thousands of "Chu soldiers" were all straw dolls. In other words, the Chu camp had long been deserted, and hundreds of thousands of Chu soldiers had secretly moved to higher ground under the cover of night.

The dummies left in the camp were only there to mislead them, to delay them from learning the truth, and to prevent them from taking any countermeasures.

"This plan must be another one of Xiao He's schemes. That scoundrel loves to use such vicious tricks!"

"How hateful! How hateful~~"

Xinpi gritted his teeth, pounding his fists on the battlements, his eyes filled with both resentment and frantic helplessness.

Cao Chong let out a bitter sigh. His confidence, which had only been restored for three days, plummeted to rock bottom once again.

In the blink of an eye, the floodwaters had swept over the Chu camp and rushed all the way to the city walls.

At the moment of impact, although the city wall did not shake, the Wei soldiers instinctively retreated, as if fearing that the city wall would be collapsed by the flood.

Panic gripped the city.

Chen Tai finally regained his senses and said urgently:

"Young Master Cang Shu, all we can do now is try to mend the fence after the sheep are lost."

"Quickly order the soldiers to move their camp to higher ground and move all the grain, firewood, and weapons to higher ground."

Cao Chong suddenly awoke with a start and had no choice but to hurriedly issue the order.

The sound of gongs as a warning quickly resounded throughout the city.

The Wei soldiers, who were still asleep, were all driven out of their barracks and began racing against time to move the grain and fodder to higher ground to prevent them from being soaked by the floodwaters that seeped into the city.

It was early summer, and the rainy season had already begun, causing the Zhang River to swell significantly.

Several heavy rains have fallen in the past few days, causing the water level to rise sharply and then surge dramatically.

The torrents rushed down to the city walls, and the water level rose rapidly, reaching half the height of the city by daybreak.

Infiltration begins.

The torrent began to seep into the city through the cracks in the city gates and through the hidden dog holes and fissures in the city walls.

Although Cao Chong ordered his soldiers to carry soil and stones and do their best to block the blockage, they could not remedy the situation.

Within a single day, the entire city of Ye was submerged into a vast swamp.

The Wei army's barracks inside the city were quickly submerged by the flood.

With nowhere to put their feet, the 20,000 soldiers had no choice but to climb onto the city wall to escape the flood.

Liu Bei was waiting for them to climb the city wall.

Although the Chu army had moved its siege camp to higher ground, the earthen mounds they had built, along with the divine thunder cannons and archers on them, remained.

Once the Wei army had all scaled the city walls, Liu Bei gave the order, and the bombardment, which had been dormant for several days, resumed.

One after another, stone projectiles soared into the air and bombarded the Wei soldiers who had gathered on the city wall to avoid the flood.

A dense rain of arrows swept down upon the Wei soldiers from their elevated position.

The Wei army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties from bombardment and arrows.

Cao Chong then remembered that the Chu army still had earthen mounds outside the city.

Terrified and helpless, he had no choice but to hastily remove the city wall and order the Wei soldiers to flee the city.

But by this time, the area below the city had already become a vast swamp, with the water reaching up to their necks.

With nowhere to put their feet, the Wei soldiers had no choice but to climb onto the rooftops to avoid the flood.

For the next few days, the 20,000 Wei soldiers could only eat, drink, and relieve themselves, all huddled in a corner of the rooftop.

At night, one can only sleep on the roof.

If you're not careful, you might roll over and fall off the roof, ending up soaked in the water.

Liu Bei clearly felt they were still too comfortable, so he ordered the Divine Thunder Cannon to bombard them day and night.

Even if the bombardment doesn't kill the Wei army, the earth-shattering roar will constantly terrify the Wei soldiers.

Under the combined torment of the divine thunder cannons and the flood, the 20,000 Wei soldiers were utterly exhausted and living a life worse than death within seven days…

On the eighth day, in the main hall of the royal palace in Ye City.

Cao Chong stood with his hands behind his back in Ye City, on the only clean spot untouched by the flood, silently gazing at the city walls and the stone projectiles that occasionally flew into the city.

With each stone that landed with a deafening roar, his body trembled slightly, and he felt a pang of fear.

Xin Pi, Xiahou Chong, and others all looked pessimistic and kept sighing.

at last.

Chen Tai, unable to bear it any longer, gritted his teeth and cupped his hands, saying:

"The tide has turned; Ye City cannot be defended."

"Young Master Cang Shu, let's abandon the city and break out when the water level recedes a few days later!" (End of Chapter)