Traveling back in time to Liu Feng, starting with rescuing soldier Guan Yu.

Beneath Rangcheng, the earth was stained with blood.

Xu Huang's central banner had advanced three hundred paces. At this distance, crossbow bolts from the city wall could reach the banner's flagpole, but Xu Huang still ordered his men to erect the flag on an earthen mound.

He stood under the banner, his armor splattered with mud and blood, the blade of his great axe chipped in three places. His guards offered to replace it, but he waved them away.

"No need."

He only uttered these three words before his gaze returned to the city gate tower of Rangcheng.

This is the ninth day of the siege.

On the first day, he led his army to approach Rangcheng, thinking that the city's defenders were only a few thousand surrendered soldiers and that he could take it in one fell swoop.

Tian Yu was already waiting for him on the city wall. Boiling oil, stones, crossbow bolts, and oil jars—the vanguard of Cao Cao's army had just reached the edge of the city wall when they were drenched in boiling oil and doused with crossbow bolts.

The corpses piled up to half a person's height beneath the city walls, yet the rammed earth walls of Rangcheng remained completely unmoved.

Xu Huang immediately withdrew his troops. He was not the kind of general who would risk human lives to build city walls.

Although Rangcheng was small, its defenses were complete, and its commander, Tian Yu, was a veteran who had seen many battles on the Hebei Plain.

After his initial probing attack failed on the first day, Xu Huang knew that there was no shortcut to conquering this city.

Then let's give it our all.

Starting the next day, Xu Huang personally oversaw the battle. He divided his more than 10,000 troops into three teams, which took turns attacking the city day and night.

When the siege ladders were burned, they were replaced with new ones; when the battering rams were smashed, they were replaced with giant logs. The arrows shot down from the city walls were as dense as rain. He ordered the shield bearers to erect three layers of shield walls in front of the battle, and the crossbowmen hid behind the shield walls to exchange fire with the city walls.

Tian Yu's response was equally robust.

He divided the city's garrison into four squads, with three squads taking turns on duty on the city walls and one squad standing by at the city walls.

He doesn't take turns on duty.

From the first day of the siege, Tian Yu never left the city tower. His general's flag was planted at the highest point of the tower, and he stood under the flag.

He never took off his armor, and never let go of his sword.

Each day, he would only nap for an hour or two on the battlements, nibble on a few dry biscuits, and drink a few sips of cold water before getting up again.

Tian Yu wanted every soldier on the city wall to see him. Whether they were surrendered soldiers or veterans, as long as they looked up, they could see that Tian Yu's general's flag was still standing on the city wall, and that Tian Yu's men were still standing under the flag.

This is the anchor of morale.

On the evening of the ninth day, Xu Huang launched his seventh attack of the day.

As dusk set the sky a deep red, the flames on and below the city walls merged into one, making it impossible to distinguish between the setting sun and the flames of war.

Cao Jun's siege ladders were once again erected on the western section of Rangcheng's city wall. This time, they changed their strategy—instead of dispersing their forces to scale the city from multiple locations, they concentrated their elite troops to launch a fierce attack on one spot.

Three hundred elite soldiers, selected by Xu Huang from the army, wearing double-layered leather armor and holding short knives in their mouths, filed up the siege ladder under the cover of crossbow bolts.

A boulder fell from the city wall, shattering the shoulder of a soldier. He fell silently off the ladder, and those behind him stepped on his corpse to continue climbing.

Boiling oil was poured down, splattering onto the head and face of one of the assassins. His flesh writhed in the hot oil, and he screamed as he fell to the ground. The third assassin had already overtaken him.

The first suicide bomber stepped onto the city wall of Rangcheng.

The moment his foot touched the battlement, a spear pierced his throat.

The man holding the spear is Tian Yu.

The garrison commander had not left the city wall for several days, yet he was still able to pierce the throat of an elite assassin with a spear.

He pulled out the spear, blood splattering onto his breastplate. He wiped the blood and sweat from his face and roared hoarsely, "Push the ladder down!"

Three support poles simultaneously braced against the top of the ladder, and seven or eight soldiers shouted in unison, pushing the ladder and the soldiers away from the city wall.

The siege ladder tilted slowly in mid-air, and more than twenty Cao soldiers fell off the ladder like ants, plunging into the firelight and darkness below the city.

The screams pierced the twilight, only to be swallowed up by the next round of war drums.

Xu Huang stood on the earthen slope, observing everything. His facial muscles twitched slightly, but his hand gripping the axe handle remained as steady as a rock.

He turned to look at the deputy general beside him.

"Eighth team, prepare."

The lieutenant did not move. His face flickered in the firelight, his lips moved a few times, and finally he took a wooden box and a silk scroll from the saddle.

"General." The lieutenant's voice was extremely low, almost drowned out by the distant sound of war drums, "An urgent report from Wancheng."

Xu Huang's gaze fell on the wooden box.

It was an ordinary elmwood box, with copper-bound corners, and the clay seal had been removed. He didn't take it, but simply asked, "What is this?"

The lieutenant's hands were trembling.

"The head of General Cao Ren, Cao Zhengnan, and a personal letter from Liu Feng."

Xu Huang's pupils suddenly contracted.

He didn't open the wooden box immediately. He turned and walked down the earthen slope, into the makeshift military tent, ordered his guards to stand watch at the tent entrance, and then took the wooden box from his adjutant. As soon as the lid was opened, the dry smell of lime wafted out.

Cao Ren's face was relatively well preserved in the lime, and the arrogant air between his brows was still there, but his complexion had turned into an ominous bluish-gray.

Xu Huang stared at the severed head for a long time.

He followed Cao Cao for over twenty years, fighting alongside Cao Ren countless times. During the Battle of Guandu, he and Cao Ren led the left and right flanks respectively to attack Yuan Shao's army. After the Battle of Red Cliffs, he and Cao Ren jointly defended Jiangling, resisting Zhou Yu for a full year. Last year, when Cao Ren was stationed at Fancheng, Guan Yu flooded the seven armies, Yu Jin was captured and Pang De was beheaded, and Cao Ren held the isolated city alone for several months without retreating.

This person, now all that remains is his head in a wooden box.

Xu Huang closed the box lid very quietly, as if afraid of waking something. Then he picked up the silk scroll and unfolded it.

The letter was shorter than he had expected.

There was no boasting of military achievements, no aggressive tactics, and even a way out was offered—if they wished to withdraw their troops back to Wan, they would not be pursued or attacked.

The last line made Xu Huang pause for a moment: "The head of Cao Zixiao is enclosed with this letter. If General Xu remembers our past friendship, he may take it back to Xuchang for burial."

Xu Huang slowly rolled up the silk scroll and stuffed it back into the bamboo tube. He stood in the tent and closed his eyes.

The war drums outside the tent continued to thunder. Preparations for the siege by the eighth squadron were underway, with the shouts of soldiers, the clanging of armor, and the sound of siege ladders and wheels rolling over the soil all blending together.

Xu Huang knew that as long as he stepped out of the tent and ordered the attack to continue, these voices would continue to ring out until the walls of Rangcheng were breached, or his soldiers could no longer climb the ladders.

But what then?

What good would it do to capture Rangcheng?

Xiangyang has fallen, Fancheng has fallen, and Cao Ren is dead.

Rangcheng was just an isolated city north of the Han River. Even if it were captured, it could not be held, because the supply line from Wancheng to Rangcheng was too long, and the Han River had already fallen into Liu Bei's hands.

Liu Feng could continuously transport grain and soldiers from Hanzhong, so what could Xu Huang use to fight him?

More importantly, the news that Cao Ren's head had been delivered to the military camp could not be kept secret.

A significant portion of the soldiers in this military camp were former subordinates of Cao Ren, who had retreated from the outskirts of Fancheng to the city and were then led by him to attack Rangcheng.

They might not recognize Xu Huang's banner, but they would certainly recognize Cao Ren's face. If they knew that the General Who Conquers the South was dead and that Fancheng and Xiangyang had fallen, the battle would be impossible to fight.

It's not a problem of low morale, it's that morale will collapse completely.

Xu Huang opened his eyes and walked out of the military tent.

"Sound the retreat."

The lieutenant was stunned: "General?"

"Sound the retreat." Xu Huang repeated, his voice not loud, but leaving no room for negotiation.

The sound of bronze gongs rang out in the twilight, sharp and drawn-out, like a knife slicing through the clamor of the battlefield. The Cao army soldiers, who were attacking the city, stopped their movements and turned to look towards the central army, their faces full of confusion.

The assassins on the ladder had climbed halfway up when they heard the retreat signal. They hesitated for a moment, then began to slowly retreat.

Tian Yu, who was on the city wall, also heard it.

He leaned against the battlements, panting heavily. The tip of his spear was broken, and his breastplate was splattered with the blood of himself and his enemies.

He watched as Cao Cao's army retreated like a tide below the city, observing for the full time it takes to drink a cup of tea, confirming that this was not a feigned retreat, nor a trick, but a genuine withdrawal.

Then he saw Xu Huang's central banner begin to move backward.

Tian Yu did not hesitate. He threw down the broken spear, strode down from the city wall, and mounted the warhorse that was already waiting at the city gate.

The Youzhou Cavalry, his old troops who had followed him from the northern frontier all the way to Jingzhou, numbered only a little over a thousand, but were truly elite cavalry.

During the ten days of defending the city, he never used this cavalry force—cavalry was the last reserve force for defending the city and should not be used lightly unless absolutely necessary.

But now is not the time to defend the city.

Now is the time to give chase.

The city gate opened a crack, and Tian Yu led more than a thousand elite cavalrymen out in single file.

Xu Huang anticipated a pursuit. He personally led the rearguard to cover the retreat, his great axe held horizontally across his saddle, and slowly retreated northward.

Cao's army stretched out in the night, their torches forming a winding ribbon of light across the open field.

The Youzhou cavalry seized the tail of the band of light, like a wolf biting a deer's hind leg.

The two armies fought and retreated on the open plains thirty miles north of Rangcheng. The Youzhou cavalry repeatedly attacked the rear of Cao Cao's army, tearing away a piece of baggage and stragglers with each charge.

Xu Huang launched three counterattacks, and Tian Yu retreated each time, only to catch up with Cao Cao's army again when they regrouped and retreated north.

Both were seasoned veterans, having spent half their lives playing this game of pursuit and counter-pursuit, neither willing to leave the other a fatal weakness.

But Tian Yu didn't need a fatal flaw. He just needed to make Xu Huang remember—Rangcheng was still there, Tian Yu's cavalry was still there, you could come back anytime you wanted, but every time you came, I would chase you down and bite you all the way.

The pursuit continued until dawn the next day.

When Tian Yu withdrew his troops, the Youzhou cavalry had already captured all of Cao Cao's rear guard's supplies and beheaded more than two hundred. He himself had been shot in the shoulder with an arrow, but the arrowhead had not penetrated deeply into the flesh, and the accompanying army physician could treat it.

Tian Yu sat on a roadside rock, letting a physician remove the arrow from his skin. As the arrowhead was pulled from his flesh, he didn't even flinch, but simply gazed north in the direction Xu Huang had retreated, suddenly asking his adjutant beside him, "Has Xiangyang been captured?"

The lieutenant said, "According to the confessions of Xu Huang's surrendered soldiers, Xiangfan has fallen, Cao Ren's head has been sent to Xu Huang's army, along with a letter from Deputy Commander Liu!"

Tian Yu paused for a moment, then nodded.

"The city that Lord Guan couldn't capture after half a year, Deputy Commander Liu took easily." He flipped the bloodstained arrowhead in his hand, looked at the blood groove on the blade, and casually threw it on the ground. "Interesting."

He stood up and looked towards Xiangyang. The morning light shone from behind him, casting a long shadow.

"Reorganize the army and return to Rangcheng. Send a letter to Xiangyang—Rangcheng still exists, and there are no more Cao troops thirty li north of Rangcheng."