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

Liu Bei and Xu Shu's troops had arrived in Shucheng ahead of time to await the signal, and were very close to Chaohu.

Upon receiving the signal from the beacon tower, Xu Shu immediately set up camp at a high point overlooking Chaohu Lake at the Shushui and Chaohu ferry crossings, constructed catapults and other long-range equipment, dismantled the original Shushui ferry crossing, and loaded all the dozens of civilian boats that Mi Zhu had summoned with stones and secured them to the mouth of the Shushui River with ropes.

Thus, one of the routes from Chaohu to the outside world was directly cut off. Theoretically, if the Jiangdong navy in Chaohu wanted to get out, besides rushing towards Shishui and Xiaoyaojin in Hefei, the only remaining channel was Ruxu Waterway near Juchao where they came from.

After Sun Quan met with Lü Fan, he listened to Lü Fan's detailed description of Chaohu Lake and realized the risks involved, which made him waver.

However, after learning about the movements of the Jingzhou navy, Sun Quan judged that the risk of being trapped in danger was relatively small, so he continued his advance.

When they passed through the Ruxu waterway and truly entered Chaohu Lake, Sun Quan looked at Juchao on the side and once again felt a sense of crisis.

If the enemy occupies the nest, I'm afraid I'll have to fight a fierce battle to get out again.

However, after observation, there were no signs of the enemy in Juchao, no warships or flags. Sun Quan finally lowered his guard and ordered a full-speed advance to rescue Cheng Pu's troops.

According to Zhuge Jin's letter, Sun Quan's fleet sailed along the south bank of Chaohu Lake. After half a day, Lü Fan suddenly became agitated.

"My lord, look! There's smoke over there! It must be General Cheng Pu!" Lü Fan spotted a wisp of smoke in the distance at a glance.

"Alright, pass down the order and proceed here immediately." Having been on tenterhooks the whole way, Sun Quan finally breathed a sigh of relief as he was about to see his troops.

However, at this time, it was not only Sun Quan's army that was advancing towards Cheng Pu's troops.

After a day's rest, Guan Yu's troops, who had come from afar from Jiashi Pass, had gathered 3,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, a total of 6,000 men, under the guidance of Liao Hua, and rushed towards Cheng Pu's troops.

"General Guan! The smoke ahead is from Cheng Pu's remnants." Liao Hua reported to Guan Yu, pointing to the smoke three miles away.

He started his return journey from around here last night, so he is quite familiar with the route.

"The strategist said that we should only attack when they board the ship. You shall lead three thousand infantrymen to ambush them in the mountains to the south. On my command, we will then encircle them from behind!" Guan Yu said to Liao Hua.

"Yes, sir!" Liao Hua accepted the order and left.

Guan Yu then began to adjust the formation and ordered everyone not to dismount or unsaddle their horses, but to wait quietly for the right opportunity.

After more than a hundred warships from Jiangdong disappeared into Chaohu Lake, Zhou Cang of Juchao immediately began to set up defenses, strengthen the city's defenses, build arrow towers, and deploy trebuchets.

Almost at the same time that Sun Quan's fleet found Cheng Pu's troops, Zhang Liao's Jingzhou navy arrived at the mouth of Ruxu.

Zhou Cang recognized the flags of the Jingzhou navy, but not Zhang Liao.

When Zhang Liao stepped off the warship from Jingzhou, Zhou Cang was puzzled, finding him quite unfamiliar, as he had never seen this general before in Jingzhou or Jiangxia.

"My name is Zhou Cang. I have been ordered by General Pang Tong to join forces with you to block the Ruxu River!" Zhou Cang immediately stepped forward and introduced himself to Zhang Liao.

"So it's General Zhou, I've heard so much about you... I am Zhang Liao, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Zhang Liao was slightly surprised to finally see Zhou Cang, who had killed Cao Hong in Wancheng, but he immediately smiled and returned the greeting.

Zhou Cang's eyes widened, clearly even more shocked than Zhang Liao's...

"General, aren't you under Cao Cao's command?" Zhou Cang was dumbfounded. He never expected that Zhang Liao, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would transform from Cao Cao's trusted and beloved general into a commander of the Jingzhou navy.

In my past life, I always felt that it was a great regret that Zhang Liao and Guan Yu, these two close friends who admired each other, never had the chance to fight side by side.

Unexpectedly, in the month or so since I returned to Runan from Wancheng and then went to Hefei, this regret has somehow been made up for!

"Uh...it's a long story." Zhang Liao said somewhat awkwardly, "Military affairs are more important! I'll explain to General Zhou later when I have time!"

"That's right...that's right!" Zhou Cang was still a little confused, but he had no time to worry about it at the moment. If the Jiangdong army successfully picked up their companions, they would return from the river mouth in less than a day.

The river channel needs to be sealed off immediately!

"General Zhang! When the Jiangdong warships passed through this area, I personally saw one of them, a large warship. It may take some effort to blockade the river mouth this time," Zhou Cang said solemnly to Zhang Liao.

"Oh... Jiangdong actually deployed such warships?" Zhang Liao had never actually heard of tower ships before. After all, he had only just taken over the Jingzhou navy and was only familiar with common warships such as warships, fighting ships, cargo ships, and small boats.

"General Zhou, first strengthen the defenses of Juchao and blockade the warships... I will discuss this with my men." Zhang Liao said to Zhou Cang, pretending to be very knowledgeable.

"Very well, if there is anything I can do to help, please tell me, General Zhang." Zhou Cang bowed to Zhang Liao and then turned and returned to Juchao.

As soon as Zhang Liao returned to the ship, he asked several junior naval commanders about the warships. To his surprise, they all looked troubled after hearing about it.

Only after learning the exact size of the tower ship did Zhang Liao understand why Zhou Cang had such a serious expression when describing it.

Compared to it, their own fighting ships and warships were simply too small; they were just floating fortresses.

"Do you all know how to block the river mouth and prevent warships from passing through?" Zhang Liao asked with a solemn expression.

The junior commanders exchanged bewildered glances; this question was truly too difficult for them…

Just as Zhang Liao was feeling troubled, a servant came to report: "General Zhang, General Zhou Cang requests an audience."

"Please come quickly!" Zhang Liao intended to seriously discuss the feasibility of blockading the warships with Zhou Cang again, since this was the most important part of Xu Shu's plan.

"General Zhang!" Zhou Cang excitedly entered the cabin and saw that Zhang Liao and the others all had worried expressions on their faces, so he knew it must be about the warship.

"General Zhang, I recall a past event that might help you stop the warships!" Zhou Cang went straight to the point.

"Really? Please enlighten us, General Zhou!" Upon hearing that Zhou Cang had a solution, Zhang Liao and the others were filled with anticipation.

"There was once a general who saw that the enemy linked their warships together with iron chains to alleviate the discomfort of infantry fighting at sea. He then came up with a plan to fill his warships with flammable materials and use this as a method of fire attack. In one battle, he burned the chained warships to death." Zhou Cang slightly modified the story of the Battle of Red Cliffs and vividly told it to Zhang Liao.

"What a brilliant plan! I wonder who this wise general is? Although I have some knowledge of military strategy, I have never heard of this story." Zhang Liao was very interested.

"Ah... this is what I heard from others, but I don't know who did it..." Zhou Cang used this excuse to cover it up again.

Zhang Liao paced back and forth, and after some thought, said, "We can also emulate this method!"

"This river is about sixty zhang wide. If I connect the warships with ropes, load them with flammable materials, and line them up in a row across the river, connecting them to both banks, I can also set the warships on fire!" Zhang Liao explained to the crowd.

"The northwest wind is strong here. If we follow this plan and it burns our warships, what will happen then?" a commander immediately asked.

"This is easy. There are many mountains and forests here. We can use horizontal logs to float on the water and connect them end to end to separate our warships from them," another commander replied.

"This method is good, but how do we find so many things to start a fire?" another commander asked.

"Merchants frequently travel through Juchao City, so this matter is not difficult," Zhou Cang replied.

"This warship is so sturdy; what if it rams and breaks the fire ship?"

"There is nothing to fear. The Jiangdong warships have come here to rescue people, and they certainly would not dare to risk their lives!" Zhang Liao replied without hesitation.

"What if the Jiangdong army discovers this plan?"

"It's alright. The point is to deter them from advancing rashly. So what if they see through our disguise?"

With everyone contributing their ideas, Zhang Liao's plan was gradually refined.

"General Zhou!" Seeing that the discussion was almost over, Zhang Liao turned to Zhou Cang.

"General Zhang, please speak!"

"This plan is indeed brilliant, but time is of the essence. I would like to trouble General Zhou to quickly go to Juchao City to prepare enough kindling for me. Please leave the rest to me!" Zhang Liao bowed to Zhou Cang and said.

"Very well, I will take care of it. Thank you, General Zhang!" Zhou Cang bowed in return and strode off the warship, returning to Juchao City.

While Zhang Liao and Zhou Cang were busy at work, preparations for battle were also intensifying in Hefei.

Having tasted the benefits of the trebuchet, Pang Tong decided to further amplify its effectiveness.

Originally, there were no strategically important locations on either side of Xiaoyaojin, which allowed the Jiangdong army to advance unimpeded and directly attack the water gate south of Hefei.

Pang Tong followed the old method, ordering all his soldiers to build an earthen ramp on the north bank of Xiaoyao Ford, directly connecting it to the east gate of Hefei City. He also used the hills of the Jiming Mountain range to build a high platform, surrounded the camp, and placed the trebuchets on the platform, forming a long-range defensive fortification that could attack from a high position.

However, given the sheer scale of the project, even just repairing the earthen slope would take at least three days. Therefore, Pang Tong mobilized all the soldiers remaining in the city, except those who were building trebuchets, to work day and night to construct the fortifications.

Around 3:45 PM, Sun Quan's fleet finally approached Cheng Pu's troops.

When they saw that a large warship had come to their rescue, the remnants of the Jiangdong army, who were huddled on the south bank of Chaohu Lake, couldn't help but cheer. After all, everyone knew that the entire Jiangdong region only had one large warship, and the only ones qualified to use it were either Zhou Yu, the highest-ranking naval commander in Chaisang, or their lord Sun Quan.

They finally saw hope of going home!

As expected, as the warship slowly approached the shore, and Sun Quan, surrounded by a group of officers, appeared in the sight of the remnants of the Jiangdong army, Cheng Pu couldn't help but burst into tears.

"My lord! I, Cheng Pu, have failed your trust! I have suffered such a defeat, please punish me!" Cheng Pu knelt before Sun Quan as he disembarked from the ship, pleading guilty loudly.

"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war, Lord Cheng, please do not blame yourself!" Sun Quan said, helping Cheng Pu up.

"My lord, General Cheng, Chaohu is not a place to stay for long. Please arrange for the soldiers to board the ships immediately!" Huang Gai reminded him from the side.

Soon, under Zhuge Jin's command, the remnants of the Jiangdong army began to line up and board the ship in the order agreed upon in advance.

"Bang!" Suddenly, a cannon shot rang out from the west, and a troop of cavalry charged toward the Jiangdong army. At the same time, the sounds of battle echoed from the mountains and forests to the south.

Upon seeing this, the generals of Jiangdong turned pale, and the soldiers were thrown into chaos.

Cheng Pu remained expressionless and shouted:

"Protect our lord!"