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

At the Ruxukou Jiangdong Army defense line, Lü Fan, Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, and a group of naval officers gathered on a warship to discuss matters.

"Our scouts reported today that the Jingzhou navy is stationed along the entire coast of Wancheng, and there is no indication that they will advance," Lü Fan told everyone, sharing the latest intelligence.

"I've long heard that the people of Jingzhou are dissatisfied with the situation in Hefei. It seems that the alliance between that old scoundrel Liu Biao and Liu Bei isn't very solid either," Pan Zhang chimed in.

"Mr. Ziyu has written a letter. In two days, we will launch a general offensive against Hefei. If necessary, we must provide timely assistance." Lü Fan then took out Zhuge Jin's letter and circulated it among the generals.

"That scoundrel Chen Wu has managed to snag a vanguard general this time, which I greatly envy," Pan Zhang muttered to himself after reading the letter.

"Don't underestimate these country bumpkins under Liu Bei's command. I heard from General Jiang Qin that they are all fearless in battle."

"When the Chaisang water fortress was attacked before, a burly man led more than a hundred infantrymen and withstood more than ten attacks by Jiang Qin's troops at the dock," Xu Sheng told Pan Zhang, recounting the battle situation he had heard from the Chaisang camp.

Pan Zhang grew increasingly indignant as he listened, and sneered, "Hmph, if I really get the chance this time, I'll show him what it means to be reckless."

"That's all, everyone can go their separate ways." With a command from Lü Fan, everyone got up and returned to their posts.

At the Jiangdong Army camp at Xiaoyaojin, final preparations were being made in earnest.

Three days ago, the crossbow and catapult attacks on Ximen, which had lasted for more than half a month, were reduced to daytime attacks only.

During the night, the Jiangdong army, following Liu Ye's suggestion, improved the catapults on the warships to make them more lethal. This is why Zhuge Jin set the time for the general offensive two days later.

Two days later, the catapults on the three warships and two fighting ships will be fully modified.

After discussing the matter, Cheng Pu and Zhuge Jin decided to launch a two-pronged attack, using both water and land routes, to simultaneously launch a fierce assault on the water gate on the south side and the city gate on the west side of Hefei.

Although the exact timing of the Jiangdong army's attack was unknown in Hefei, Pang Tong knew that he didn't have much time left once the night offensive ceased.

After Yang Hong was persuaded to surrender by Chen Lan and Gan Ning, Pang Tong built dozens of trebuchets in the city based on the blueprints provided by Yang Hong. He also ordered his soldiers to build eight earthen ramps at the four corners of the city walls so that the trebuchets could be transported to the city towers.

During this time, although Zhuge Jin made a special trip to Mount Da Shu to look out over the city's defensive works, he was unaware of Pang Tong's intentions and assumed that Pang Tong had built a temporary project for Xiao Che to facilitate the repair of the city walls.

Two days later, at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), the Jiangdong army, under the command of Cheng Pu, marched out of their camp in formation to prepare for the attack on the city. Cheng Pu personally led 5,000 men, Chen Wu led 3,000 men, a total of 8,000 men, across the Shi River to be responsible for a strong attack on the west gate. Zhuge Jin led 5,000 naval troops to be responsible for attacking the south water gate, and the remaining troops were divided into three parts to wait for orders in the main camp.

After all, Sun Quan had entrusted almost all the troops he could send to Cheng Pu, so the only way to win this battle was to capture Hefei!

Pang Tong, seeing this from the city tower, began to implement the pre-arranged plan. Gan Ning led two thousand men to defend the south gate, while Zhou Cang led one thousand armored soldiers and one thousand lightly armed infantry to defend the west gate.

The Jimingshan camp was supported by Liao Hua leading 1,500 cavalry and Chen Lan leading 1,500 infantry, while the surrendered general Yang Hong waited in the city with 2,000 troops he had brought from Shouchun.

Pang Tong personally led the last five hundred men to command the entire army from the city wall.

To defend against attacks from the direction of Jiming Mountain, Cheng Pu deployed his infantry in formation to protect the flanks, while he himself commanded the general offensive from the center.

"Bang!" A cannon fired in western Hefei, signaling the start of the general offensive!

"Throw stones!" Zhuge Jin gave the order, and the warships of all sizes, which had already been arranged in formation, threw stones, and the effect was indeed much better than before.

Large and small stones rained down on the city walls and towers, creating three breaches after two rounds of impact.

Gan Ning crouched down, pressed tightly against the sandbags beside the city wall, holding a shield in one hand to protect his head, his body constantly feeling the vibrations caused by the city wall being bombarded by stones.

Despite all the preparations made, soldiers around us were still being hit by the stones, either dying or being injured.

The Jiangdong army bombarded the area for three more rounds before finally stopping.

Through the gaps in the crenellations, Gan Ning saw that the opposing ships were already adjusting their positions, preparing to board and scale the walls. He began to count down in his mind, and soon the ships were completely sideways—

Gan Ning shouted, "Beat the drums! Release the arrows!"

"Boom boom boom boom!" As soon as the war drums sounded, the soldiers who had been hiding behind the city walls and under the earthen slopes finally raised their heads and fired at the enemy from the remaining arrow emplacements.

The Jiangdong army hadn't expected Gan Ning to time his counterattack so perfectly. Zhuge Jin, watching from the warship, saw dozens of soldiers who were preparing to board and fight fall into the water, struck by arrows. He immediately shouted, "Fire!"

The two warships at the front opened their arrow slits and fired at the city walls, but the effect was obviously less, as most of the arrows were blocked by the walls and shields.

"Keep throwing stones!" Having learned his lesson, Zhuge Jin immediately adjusted his strategy, abandoning the plan to launch a rapid assault on the city wall and instead intending to use stones to blast it down.

Meanwhile, the siege of Ximen was also extremely fierce.

Zhou Cang's armored soldiers pushed the defensive line two hundred paces outside the city wall, while behind them, dozens of arrow carts carrying archers provided mid-range firepower, thus protecting the city wall from the range of the trebuchets. Yang Hong's troops were responsible for continuously supplying arrows to the arrow carts from inside the city.

The so-called arrow chariot was a wooden arrow platform that Pang Tong added to the base of the thunderbolt chariot, making it flexible and able to accommodate two people shooting from the platform. It was covered with bamboo curtains on all sides for protection. The entire arrow chariot was more than two zhang tall, just enough to pass through the city gate.

Chen Wu's troops had already charged twice, but not only were they unable to break through Zhou Cang's defenses on the front, many of them were even shot down by crossbows fired from the arrow carts before they could even get close.

This time, Chen Wu finally led his cavalry through the rain of arrows and saw the well-organized, heavily armored soldiers. He planned to charge diagonally to disrupt their formation.

Zhou Cang spotted Chen Wu at a glance and immediately thought of the ninety-one warriors who were killed by the Jiangdong army to protect military intelligence. Without hesitation, he drew his sword, spurred his horse, and charged over.

Chen Wu and his men spurred their horses sideways, using their long spears to thrust fiercely into the gaps in the armored soldiers' shields, knocking down four or five men in succession.

Just as Chen Wu was feeling that this method was effective, he suddenly saw the formation in front of him open up quickly, and a black-clad figure charged towards him with a knife raised!

It was Zhou Cang who had charged at him in Nomura that day. Chen Wu gritted his teeth and went to meet him.

Chen Wu thrust his spear forward, intending to use the momentum of his warhorse to quickly attack Zhou Cang's chest.

Zhou Cang didn't dodge. He waited for the two horses to cross paths, then slapped his Mo Dao forward, directly blocking Chen Wu's spear. He then twisted his waist and swept it behind him, just like the fighting style he used when he fought Cao Hong in Wancheng!

Chen Wu's spear missed its mark, and before he could adjust and retract his spear, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound coming from behind him. He quickly ducked to avoid it.

"Clang!" Zhou Cang's longsword almost took Chen Wu's head, but fortunately Chen Wu quickly ducked and only managed to sweep the helmet away.

Chen Wu panicked and dared not turn back to fight. He charged back to his own lines, leaving Zhou Cang to the cavalry behind him.

When the cavalrymen behind saw that the one who had swept Chen Wu's helmet away was the burly, dark-skinned man who had been invulnerable to swords and spears in Nomura that day, they all scattered and ran back to their own lines with Chen Wu.

The arrow cart quickly seized the opportunity to fire arrows, instantly felling more than a dozen riders from behind.

"Lord Cheng! The enemy's formation is difficult to break; we need to find another clever plan." Chen Wu, with disheveled hair, ran up to Cheng Pu and asked for instructions.

Cheng Pu glanced at Chen Wu's disheveled appearance and ordered, "Cavalry, retreat! Infantry, form ranks and hold the front! Use trebuchets to break their arrow carts first!" He then looked at Liu Ye, who understood and immediately went to organize the trebuchet formation.

The messenger beat the drum and waved the command flag. The Jiangdong infantry, carrying shields, slowly advanced and stopped in formation fifty paces away from Zhou Cang's army.

"Not good!" Pang Tong, seeing the change in the Jiangdong army's offensive from the city tower, guessed their purpose and hurriedly waved his flag towards Jiming Mountain. At the same time, he ordered the messenger to sound the retreat in a three-beat-one-stop rhythm.

Upon hearing this unique sound, Zhou Cang immediately ordered the arrow carts to retreat into the city.

The soldiers were pushing heavy arrow carts, so how could they enter the city so quickly? They had only pushed halfway when Pang Tong saw the enemy army pushing out thirty trebuchets!

Under Liu Ye's command, the rocks whistled as they flew toward the arrow carts behind Zhou Cang's armored soldiers!

One round! Two rounds! Three rounds!

The trebuchets fired stones quickly and fiercely. Liao Hua's cavalry had only just reached the flanks and had not yet managed to disrupt the trebuchet formation when the arrow carts behind Zhou Cang were already mostly destroyed by the falling stones.

"Retreat back to the city first, don't worry about the arrow carts!" Zhou Cang shouted repeatedly to the soldiers hiding under the bamboo canopy of the arrow carts as he galloped away, dodging the boulders.

Just then, a boulder fell from the sky, smashing over a chariot carrying arrows in front of Zhou Cang. The soldiers scattered and fled. An archer was unable to dodge in time and his leg was pinned down by the overturned chariot, rendering him unable to move.

Without hesitation, Zhou Cang leaped off his horse, reached his hands into the gaps of the overturned arrow cart, and with a sudden lift of his arms, he gritted his teeth and let out a muffled "Lift...", raising the heavy arrow platform more than a foot high. The archers trapped under the arrow cart took the opportunity to crawl out by digging through the dirt.

Seeing that the archers had fled into the city gate, Zhou Cang loosened his grip, put down the arrow cart, turned around, mounted his horse, and planned to return to the rear of the armored soldiers' camp to continue commanding.

"Giddy up!" Zhou Cang's warhorse had only run a few steps when a boulder suddenly came crashing down from the trebuchet formation. When Zhou Cang saw it out of the corner of his eye, he instinctively raised his hand to block it!

With a dull thud, Zhou Cang was hit on the head and fell off his horse, remaining motionless.

Fortunately, Zhou Cang blocked the attack with his hand, which relieved some of the force. After a few breaths of unconsciousness, he was awakened by the surging heat in his body.

Although he didn't know how much strength he had lost due to the initial fainting, it was clearly a fatal wound. Blood flowed from the wound on Zhou Cang's head, running down his hair to the ground.

When Pang Tong on the city tower saw Zhou Cang lying motionless on the ground after being hit by the stone, he felt a pang of anxiety and was about to send someone to rescue him. Fortunately, Zhou Cang quickly got up and picked up his Mo Dao again.

At this moment, the Jiangdong army stopped the catapults from the trebuchet formation, and then drums and horns sounded in unison!

Cheng Pu brought up the rear, while Chen Wu, wielding a steel saber, led the infantry formation toward the armored soldiers' camp—

Launch the all-out offensive!