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

The deafening shouts of battle brought Zhou Cang fully back to his senses. He looked up at Pang Tong, indicating that he was alright.

Pang Tong breathed a sigh of relief and ordered, "Sound the retreat! Five strikes, then halt!" He then said to another messenger, "Order Chen Lan's troops to attack!"

"Ding ding ding ding ding—!" The gong sounded after five strikes followed by a pause, and the armored soldiers began to slowly retreat. Chen Wu assumed that the Hefei garrison was withdrawing and continued to command his troops to press forward.

Zhou Cang directed the armored soldiers to retreat in an orderly manner, until they were only twenty paces away from the moat.

At this moment, more than a dozen arrow carts and bladed carts filled with steel knives were brought out from the city and lined up in a row close to the moat.

"It's that same old wrecked car again," Chen Wu cursed under his breath.

At this moment, the defending troops adopted a desperate, all-or-nothing stance.

Seeing that only a few arrows from the siege engines were hitting the front ranks of the soldiers, Cheng Pu decisively ordered, "All troops, advance! Break through the arrow barrage! Ram them into the moat!"

Two cavalry units immediately charged out from the center of the army, flanking the infantry square and attacking the armored soldiers' camp from both sides. Together with the infantry in the middle, they crashed into the last line of defense under the city.

Just then, the bugle call sounded from the city walls of Hefei—

"Ugh—!"

Cheng Pu looked up following the sound of the horn and saw that more than twenty thunderbolt carts had appeared out of thin air on the city wall!

"Release!" Yang Hong shouted, directing his soldiers to throw stones. Unlike the Jiangdong army, which used large stones to maximize the killing power of a single blow, Pang Tong equipped the trebuchets with stones of varying sizes, the smallest being only the size of a fist and the largest not even as big as a head, all for the purpose of maximizing the killing range.

In an instant, rocks rained down from the sky like meteors over western Hefei, with dozens of stones hitting the Jiangdong army formation with each round of slingshots.

Now it was Liu Ye's turn to be dumbfounded. He was standing next to Cheng Pu in the central army, watching helplessly as the trebuchets he had invented on the city wall mercilessly rained down stones, smashing the Jiangdong soldiers until their heads were bleeding.

The trebuchets already had a long range, and the range was further amplified by firing from a high position, throwing the Jiangdong army into chaos.

Moreover, Pang Tong adjusted the positions of several trebuchets on both sides, so that the Jiangdong central army was also covered by the range of the boulders.

A small number of Jiangdong troops who had already reached the city walls were killed by arrow carts and armored soldiers, while the majority were within range of trebuchets. This terrifying battlefield situation far exceeded the Jiangdong army's imagination in any previous battle.

Having completed his mission of luring the enemy, Zhou Cang held his sword in both hands, quietly waiting for Pang Tong to give the signal to counterattack.

Liao Hua's cavalry, positioned towards Jiming Mountain, had already reached the rear of the Jiangdong army's formation, leaving their flank to Chen Lan's infantry, who had just arrived.

Cheng Pu and Chen Wu tried to regroup the troops, which had fallen into chaos, but their repeated beating of the drums had no effect.

Furthermore, because the cavalry flanked the enemy during the charge, they were immediately attacked by a hail of rocks, causing their horses to scatter and trample each other, completely out of control.

The time had finally come! Pang Tong unfurled his command flag, and drums and horns sounded throughout Hefei!

The trebuchets immediately stopped firing stones and were turned around by the soldiers, who pushed them south of the city.

"Kill!" Zhou Cang shouted, leading his armored battalion in a frontal charge. Fifty armored soldiers and one trebuchet formed a group, reaping the Jiangdong army soldiers who had been stunned by the trebuchets from all directions of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Liao Hua's cavalry attacked from the rear of the Jiangdong army, and Chen Lan's infantry launched an attack from the left flank, instantly closing in a large pocket!

For a time, the Jiangdong Army's positions in the west of the city resembled a living hell, filled with wails and screams.

Gan Ning's troops in the south of the city faced much greater hardships. As early as when Zhou Cang was knocked unconscious by falling rocks, half of the city wall on the right side of the south side had already been destroyed by the Jiangdong army, and the arrow emplacements were also basically smashed.

After confirming that the defenders had no more cover to fire from, Zhuge Jin commanded his navy to set up gangplanks and ladders on the warships again, swarming towards the various gaps like ants to attack the defenders.

The defenders had long since run out of arrows. Gan Ning, wielding two steel swords, fought hand-to-hand with the Jiangdong soldiers who had climbed the city walls. The defenders were fighting to the death. The two thousand-strong force had been fighting in shifts, and now only eight hundred men remained. Even the water gate below the city had been completely blocked by a mountain of corpses.

When they finally heard the drums and horns signaling Pang Tong's general attack, Gan Ning hurriedly shouted, "Retreat quickly!" The defenders breathed a sigh of relief and rushed back to the earthen slopes that Pang Tong had built, raising their shields high.

When the Jiangdong army saw the defenders suddenly retreat, they assumed that the enemy was fleeing in fear, which greatly boosted their morale, and they surged towards the city wall even faster.

"Whoosh!" A large rock suddenly fell from the sky and crashed into the water next to Zhuge Jin's warship with a loud "Splash!"

Zhuge Jin's eyes widened as he realized what was happening, his face showing fear. He then shouted, "Retreat! Retreat! The entire army must retreat!"

Unfortunately, it was too late!

Just like the meteor shower attack in the west of the city, Pang Tong's catapults are now all aimed at the Jiangdong navy in the south of the city!

The stones prepared for this area are larger than those for the west side of the city, since in addition to bombarding people, they also need to smash boats!

Wherever the boulders went, there was a deafening roar, and everything was reduced to ashes!

The range of the trebuchet extends from near to far, and it destroys all beings, whether soldiers or warships, without discrimination!

After smashing the walls for more than a dozen rounds, Pang Tong used the city's last reserves to assist Gan Ning in annihilating the navy that had already climbed the city walls.

Then all the trebuchets were pushed onto the remaining city wall in the south of the city and aimed at the warships and camps that were farther away!

Another round of bombardment continued until all the stones that Jiangdong had thrown at him were used up, and only then did Pang Tong stop.

Even the dozens of Thunderbolts that were made over several days and nights were mostly scrapped due to overuse.

The hundreds of Jiangdong warships that had been blockading the south of the city at Xiaoyaojin were mostly destroyed, and the remaining ships were unable to move because they were smashed to pieces and blocked the waterway.

The Jiangdong army's general offensive began at 9:00 AM, and it was now 1:00 PM, but the battle was not over yet, although for most of the time afterward, the Hefei defenders were massacring the Jiangdong army...

Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, and Chen Lan pursued the fleeing Jiangdong soldiers all the way, crossing the Shi River from the west of the city and storming into the Jiangdong army camp. They fought their way through the camp until they were exhausted and could no longer pursue them. They returned to the city with great regret.

Cheng Pu, Chen Wu, and Zhuge Jin, who had been pulled from the water, led their remaining troops in a disheveled state, fleeing along the Shi River south of Hefei City for thirty miles. They escaped all the way to the area between Xiaoyaojin and Chaohu Lake, and only stopped when they saw that no Hefei garrison was pursuing them.

Liu Ye disappeared amidst the chaos of battle, and of course, no one in the Jiangdong army cared about his life or death at this point.

The remnants of the Jiangdong army found an uninhabited village nearby and planned to use it as their campsite for the night.

After Zhuge Jin kept sending people to gather the defeated soldiers and counted the number of people, Cheng Pu almost fainted. Of the 20,000 Jiangdong soldiers, only more than 7,000 were left after the battle. Most of these 7,000 were the reserve force that had not been deployed to the battle and were waiting in the camp!

"My late lord entrusted me with the men of Jiangdong, and today I have suffered such a crushing defeat. How can I face returning to Jiangdong!" Cheng Pu said, tears streaming down his face.

"I believe that after this battle, the morale of the army is in disarray, and it is not advisable to continue fighting. The most urgent task is to contact General Lü Fan and have his navy transferred to Chaohu Lake to bring the remaining soldiers back to Jiangdong," Zhuge Jin advised from the side.

Chen Wu, who had remained silent for a long time, roared angrily upon hearing that the army was to retreat: "If it weren't for that scoundrel Liu Ye offering those trebuchets to that brat Zhang Xun, how could Pang Tong have obtained such a powerful weapon? How could we have suffered such a defeat?!"

This time, Cheng Pu did not reprimand Chen Wu. He vaguely felt that if Zhang Xun and Yang Hong's band of outlaws had not interfered in the attack on Hefei, the defeat would not have been so great.

"Enough, things have come to this point. Let's not talk about Liu Ye anymore." Zhuge Jin didn't want to dwell on this meaningless topic any longer.

"Someone come here!" Cheng Pu shouted.

A soldier hurried in.

"Take my military tally and command token, and quickly go to Ruxukou to summon General Lü Fan's navy!" Cheng Pu said, taking out the military tally and command token from his bosom and handing it to the messenger.

After informing everyone of the reinforcements, they relaxed a little. At least they still had this backup plan, and it would take at least two days to reach Ruxukou from here.

"I almost forgot about something important!" Zhuge Jin suddenly said with a serious expression.

Cheng Pu asked, "What is it?"

"General Zhou Tai of Jiashi Pass!" Zhuge Jin reminded him.

Cheng Pu slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Youping is still guarding the pass at Jiashi Pass. If the armies of Wancheng and Hefei attack from both sides, Youping will be in grave danger!"

Jiashi Pass is located 150 li southwest of Hefei. After the Jiangdong Army and Zhang Xun's troops besieged Hefei, they first sent Zhou Tai with 1,000 men to guard Jiashi Pass and cut off the connection between Hefei and Wancheng.

No one could have predicted that Jiangdong's general offensive would end in defeat within a single day, and even less could anyone have imagined that the defeat would be so severe that even the main camp would be lost. If Cheng Pu and his men were to escape back to Jiangdong like this, Zhou Tai would become a completely isolated force, facing certain death.

"Someone come here! Someone come here!" Cheng Pu shouted again.

The soldier rushed over to see him.

"Send ten messengers to Jiashi Pass to inform General Zhou Tai that the main camp has fallen and to return to Chaohu immediately!" Zhuge Jin instructed.

The soldier received his orders and went out.

Cheng Pu's concerns were not unfounded. Pang Tong and Xu Shu were indeed planning to take down Jiashi Pass, but Pang Tong himself did not expect that they could capture the Jiangdong camp in one battle.

Moreover, his plan was not just to repel the Jiangdong army besieging the city; he wanted to annihilate the enemy forces. That's why he attached so much importance to the letter that Lei Xu was about to send out.

At this moment, Hefei was filled with laughter and joy. Apart from the severe damage to the water gate city wall in the south of the city, which would require a lot of time to repair, the results of this effort were very gratifying.

The grain and supplies captured from the Jiangdong army are enough to keep Hefei City in place for another two months.

Moreover, Yang Hong had already brought the remaining troops from Shouchun before this. Taking Shouchun and completely connecting Hefei and Shouchun into a single line was only a matter of time and procedure.

After Zhou Cang and the others returned to the city and rested for two hours, they went to the Jiangdong military camp together to help the soldiers move supplies.

Pang Tong, alone, remained lost in thought before the map, muttering to himself:

"Yuanzhi, now it's up to you to prove yourself."