I, Zhou Cang, am the number one tank in the Three Kingdoms.

After the banquet ended, Lei Xu had a private conversation with his lord Liu Bei for a while. He then selected one hundred of his former, agile men as his loyal followers and set off, passing through six counties, to Hefei.

The six counties, which later became Lu'an, started from Wancheng. They first went west along the mountain road to avoid Jiashiguan, then went north to the six counties. After arriving in the six counties, they went east, first passing Xiaoshushan, then Dashushan. This route overlapped with the last part of the route that Zhou Cang and others had taken, bypassing Shouchun and going south from Jishui to the six counties, and finally arriving in Hefei.

Since Wancheng was unable to contact Hefei, it was naturally unaware that Zhou Cang's troops had already breached Zhang Xun's siege camp.

The most difficult part of this route is the mountain road from Wancheng to Liuxian.

Lei Xu was familiar with this path precisely because of his previous experience as a mountain bandit.

"My lord, what did Lei Xu say?" Xu Shu asked his lord Liu Bei curiously after learning that Lei Xu had spoken with Liu Bei before setting off.

"Take a look for yourself, strategist." Liu Bei took out a silk scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Xu Shu.

"To General Li Feng, personally informing you:"

Now, Cao Cao has been deceived by Liu Bei, and Xuchang is exhausted. In order to restore the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao wants to recruit heroes from all over the world. I hope you will remember the kindness you showed me in the past, abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and you will not lose your title of marquis.

Liu Ye, the clerk of the Sikong Cang Cao (a minor official position).

Xu Shu was stunned, as if struck by lightning, and said with lingering fear, "I never imagined that Liu Ye, that scoundrel, would be so incredibly powerful?"

Liu Bei said, "Lei Xu was a former subordinate of Zheng Bao, a powerful figure in Huainan. Zheng Bao was killed by Liu Ye in the past, and Lei Xu should not have escaped. In the end, Liu Ye spared his life, which led to today's events."

Xu Shu shook his head and said, "I have long heard that Liu Ye is highly respected in Huainan. It seems that this is true. This man has such extraordinary influence! Thanks to our lord's good fortune, Lei Xu did not defect to the enemy..."

Liu Bei said in a deep voice, "Although Lei Xu did not defect to the enemy, he wrote back to Liu Ye to thank him again for saving his life."

"Alas, it was a close call... But since Lei Xu has told me everything about this, it should be fine."

Xu Shu was even more astonished and could only respond to Liu Bei with silence.

After Lei Xu set off, following his old habits as a mountain bandit, he piled up stones at every intersection in the mountains to mark the directions, in preparation for any possible subsequent troop deployments.

After traveling day and night for three days and three nights, we finally left the mountains and arrived at Liuxian County.

After much hesitation, Lei Xu still did not set foot in the county town that he had once plundered, but instead found a deserted village outside the town to rest.

On the morning of the fourth day, Lei Xu and the others, having had a good night's sleep, continued their journey and arrived at the main road at the foot of Mount Da Shu before sunset.

Many damaged barricades were scattered haphazardly on both sides of the road, and there were even many corpses piled up by the roadside. It was clear that the battle had not been fought for long and had not yet been cleaned up. So the group quickly climbed to the mountainside of Da Shu Mountain to survey the situation in Hefei City.

"General, the siege of Hefei seems to have been lifted," a subordinate said to Lei Xu, looking at the small black dots coming and going from the west gate of Hefei in the distance.

"We do not yet know whether those in the city are friend or foe, so we must be extra cautious on the road," Lei Xu instructed his subordinates.

It was already dark when they descended the mountain. Out of caution, Lei Xu did not continue his journey to the camp below the city, but instead rested in the wilderness for another night.

The next morning, when Lei Xu sneaked close to the camp below the city and found that they were indeed all his own people, everyone was extremely excited.

"General Lei!" Zhou Cang, who was returning to Hefei City from the Jiming Mountain camp, greeted Lei Xu warmly at the city gate.

"It's General Zhou! My lord and strategist were extremely anxious in Wan City. It turns out the siege has been broken!" Lei Xu finally relaxed.

"General Lei, hurry into the city! Military Advisor Pang is inside!" Zhou Cang hurriedly called Lei Xu and the others into the city. After all, almost all of these hundred people looked exhausted, having traveled all the way and reached their physical limits.

Upon entering Hefei, Pang Tong and another person were examining a strange catapult in the city.

After paying his respects, Lei Xu quickly handed the letter written by Xu Shu to Pang Tong.

"Good! Good! Good!" Pang Tong said "Good!" three times after reading Xu Shu's handwritten note, leaving everyone around him puzzled.

"General Lei, let me introduce you," Pang Tong said, pulling Lei Xu aside.

"This is Yang Hong, formerly the chief clerk under Yuan Shu, who has now abandoned the darkness and turned to the light—"

"So it's General Yang. It's been a long time." Lei Xu smiled and bowed to Yang Hong.

Although he appeared completely natural, Lei Xu was inwardly shocked. In his previous letter requesting reinforcements, the strategist had mentioned being besieged by Zhang Xun. Now, not only had the siege been broken, but Yang Hong had also turned against him. This was truly a swift and decisive move.

"Oh? You two actually know each other?" Pang Tong asked in surprise.

"To be honest, strategist, when I lost my virginity and became a bandit, I stayed in various places in Huainan and had several dealings with General Yang." Lei Xu revealed the whole story without any concealment.

"Yes, good, good." Upon hearing this, Pang Tong said "good" twice more.

"Why does this catapult look so strange?" Lei Xu's gaze returned to the catapult in the middle.

"This is a trebuchet, which Liu Ye improved upon during the Battle of Guandu by modifying an ordinary catapult," Zhou Cang introduced with a smile.

"I see..." Lei Xu replied perfunctorily, trying to cover up his guilty conscience when he heard Liu Ye's name.

"Strategist, the Jiangdong navy has blockaded the river. Do you have any strategies to defeat them?" Lei Xu quickly changed the subject.

Pang Tong pointed to the Thunderclap Carriage: "The strategy to defeat the enemy lies entirely in this carriage! General Lei, please rest for the night; I have important business to entrust to you tomorrow."

Before anyone could react, Pang Tong had already turned and walked into the inner room, picked up his pen and wrote a reply to Xu Shu.

The next day, Lei Xu returned to Wancheng with Pang Tong's strategy for defeating the enemy. Before leaving, Pang Tong instructed him: "This letter is of utmost importance. You must deliver it to Yuanzhi as soon as possible."

Before Lei Xu could answer, Pang Tong turned to Gan Ning and said, "Xingba, General Lei must not be allowed to fail on this journey. I will trouble you to lead five hundred cavalrymen to escort him for a while."

The two men accepted the order and left. Pang Tong frowned, calculated with his fingers, and still felt uneasy. He then called Zhou Cang over and said, "Yuanfu, you will lead another five hundred men to escort Lei Xu. Be careful along the way."

"Yes, sir!"

For some reason, Pang Tong had a bad feeling about Lei Xu taking the letter back to Wancheng.

However, in the past few days, Jiangdong, relying on the advantage of its navy at Xiaoyaojin, has been launching direct attacks on Hefei from its warships. Arrows, crossbows, and small catapults on the ships have been attacking the south water gate of the city day and night. Every day, a large number of soldiers have been dispatched to the south gate to repair the city walls while withstanding the long-range attacks of the Jiangdong army. It is impossible to send more soldiers to escort a letter.

Pang Tong's gaze returned to the blueprints for the trebuchet presented by Yang Hong, forcing himself to stop worrying about Lei Xu.

After Zhou Cang led 500 cavalry to catch up with Lei Xu, the thousand-strong escort force soon arrived at the main road at the foot of Mount Da Shu.

"Generals, please wait!" Lei Xu reined in his horse and bowed to Gan Ning and Zhou Cang.

Zhou Cang replied, "It's alright, let's escort you a little further. This place isn't far from the Jiangdong camp. If we turn back now, we might be punished by the strategist."

Lei Xu couldn't persuade Zhou Cang otherwise, so he had to agree to continue the journey.

After traveling a few more miles, Lei Xu said again, "Generals, the Jiangdong army is attacking the city urgently, and the city is in dire need of manpower. Do not let this humble general delay the important task of defending the city."

Zhou Cang and Gan Ning exchanged a glance, and also felt that Lei Xu's words seemed to make sense. After looking around to make sure no one was around, the two bid farewell to Lei Xu and returned to Hefei City to report back.

At this moment, in the thicket of trees along the mountain path of Mount Da Shu, a lowly soldier from the Jiangdong Army asked Chen Wu, "General, these hundred men are only from the city, not a supply convoy. Shall we let them pass?"

Chen Wu frowned and pondered, "That small team of a hundred men is escorted by a thousand cavalry; they must have an important mission. We absolutely cannot let them pass!"

"However, the road to the six counties is muddy. We can make our move after those thousand cavalrymen have gone far away!"

"Pass down the order: await my command at any time, and descend the mountain to pursue and kill them."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier quickly moved through the bushes, relaying the order to the ambushing troops.

Chen Wu couldn't hide his excitement after secretly leading his troops to ambush at Da Shu Mountain last night. He hadn't expected to catch such a big fish in less than a day.

After a moment, Chen Wu realized that Pang Tong's escorting cavalry had gone far away, and ordered, "Pursue them!"

In an instant, a thousand light cavalrymen rushed out from the mountain road of Da Shu Mountain, like tigers descending the mountain, and sped off in the direction Lei Xu had left.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the shadow of Lei Xu's hundred-man unit came into view.

At this moment, Lei Xu arrived at Nomura, where Zhou Cang and Liao Hua's reinforcements had rested when they first arrived.

A sharp horse whistle suddenly rang out from the back of the column, startling Lei Xu, the leader. This was a habit they had when they were bandits; if they spotted pursuers, the people at the back of the column would blow their horse whistles to warn them!

But the whistling stopped abruptly, because Chen Wu, who was at the forefront of Jiangdong, had shot down the messenger at the rear of the column with an arrow.

Meanwhile, the muddy roads in the village forced Lei Xu's troops to slow down their march.

Clearly, Jiangdong had conducted a detailed reconnaissance of this remote village. Chen Wu's troops split into two groups: one continued to pursue Lei Xu, while the other bypassed the village and went to the other side, intending to trap the hundred men in the village.

"Whoa—!" Just as Lei Xu was about to leave the village, he saw the enemy army that had detoured to the village entrance ahead and quickly reined in his warhorse.

After Lei Xu and the others stopped, the deafening sound of horses' hooves behind them gradually subsided.

Chen Wu pressed forward relentlessly, compressing Lei Xu and the others into a tight group.

"You traitorous general, quickly dismount and surrender, and I may spare your life." Chen Wu spotted Lei Xu, the leader, and stared at him coldly as he spoke.

Lei Xu also stared at Chen Wu. In the past half month, he had finally found his direction, rejected Liu Ye's temptations, and vowed to repay Liu Shijun's kindness and redeem himself for the harm he had caused to the people of Huainan. How could he tolerate you Jiangdong traitors who would humiliate his lofty ambitions!

Thinking this, Lei Xu slowly drew the steel sword from his waist, then took a strip of cloth from his pocket and tightly bound the sword to his hand. He then stared at Chen Wu and said, "I, Lei Xu... swear to die rather than surrender!"

"Kill them!" Lei Xu shouted, and the hundred-man troops all took out strips of cloth and tied their steel knives together, just like Lei Xu. They then immediately split into two groups. One group formed several tight rows and charged towards Chen Wu's troops, while the rest of the troops, together with Lei Xu, turned around and rushed towards the troops blocking the village!

Break through!