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

Inside Wancheng, Hu Che'er was reading a letter sent by Zhang Xiu from the front lines at Guandu. This was the third letter sent by their lord after he led his elite cavalry to reinforce Guandu.

The first two letters describe Cao Cao's praise of Hu Che'er after arriving at Guandu, while the second letter comforts Hu Che'er and once again instructs him to guard the city carefully.

Today's letter finally contained some substantial content. The two armies were locked in a stalemate at Guandu, and the military situation was extremely tense. Zhang Xiu ordered Hu Che'er to oversee the supply of military provisions and to escort them to the front lines at Guandu as soon as possible.

Hu Che'er put down the letter, summoned the granary official in the city, and entrusted him with the matter of grain supplies.

After finishing dealing with the letters, Hu Che'er got up and walked to the window, staring blankly at the north.

Since submitting to Prime Minister Cao, although he received better treatment, he still felt a sense of resentment.

Back then, my lord had Jia Xu as his strategist and himself as his warrior. With Liu Biao's support and relying on the unique terrain of Wancheng, he repeatedly dealt heavy blows to Cao Cao's army.

Jia Wenhe acted for his own sake and for the sake of his lord, ultimately refusing Yuan Shao's surrender to Cao Cao, which was certainly a good decision.

But if I had surrendered to Yuan Shao back then, wouldn't I already be marching north, besieging Xuchang, and perhaps even have a chance to see the emperor...?

Lost in thought, Hu Che'er felt agitated and ordered a servant to bring over wine and dishes.

After drinking two cups of wine by himself, Hu Che'er felt sleepy and fell asleep on the couch.

When Hu Che'er woke up, he saw only a thick fog and did not know how he had ended up in the reeds of Gualijin.

After taking a few steps forward, I saw a burly figure standing with his back to me.

Hu Che'er slowly walked forward, about to call out to the other person, when the other person turned around. The instant they saw Hu Che'er, their eyes widened, their beard and hair bristled, and they shouted—

"Give me back my halberd! Give me back my halberd!"

Why is it Dian Wei? Wasn't he dead?!

In a panic, Hu Che'er took several steps back and stumbled and fell to the ground.

Have you seen a ghost?

Startled, Hu Che'er quickly got up and ran backward, eventually running into a military camp.

Hu Che'er looked back and saw no trace of Dian Wei, then he was relieved.

The military camp was empty except for the faint sound of singing and dancing coming from one tent. Hu Che'er felt strange and went to find out what was going on.

But the moment the tent flap was lifted, the singing and dancing stopped abruptly, and a dozen or so swordsmen lined up on either side, while two men at the entrance pushed Hu Che'er into the tent.

The general sitting in the tent was none other than Dian Wei. Dian Wei took a sip of wine, put down the cup, pointed to the double halberds beside him, and smiled at Hu Che'er: "Look, I've found my double halberds."

Before Hu Che'er could react, Dian Wei's expression changed, and he roared angrily, "Shameless scoundrel, do you dare to fight me fair and square?"

As Dian Wei spoke, bright red blood began to seep from his seven orifices.

Hu Che'er immediately sensed something was wrong, a chill ran down his spine, and he shouted, "It has nothing to do with me! It was all Jia Wenhe's scheme!"

Dian Wei stood up, grabbed his double halberds, and rushed to the tent at lightning speed, directly slashing at Hu Che'er's head!

"Ah!" Hu Che'er cried out, waking up from his dream with a start, panting heavily, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

This was the umpteenth time Hu Che'er had dreamed of Dian Wei. He wiped the sweat from his brow, trying to calm himself down.

"Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong..." Suddenly hearing several drumbeats, Hu Che'er thought he had misheard and got up to go out and check.

"General! General!" A servant staggered to Hu Che'er's door.

"What's the commotion? Where is the drumming coming from?!" Hu Che'er asked.

"Gua...Gualijin! The drums of Gualijin! There's an enemy attack on Gualijin!" The servant gasped for breath.

"What?!" Hu Che'er exclaimed in shock, even thinking that she was dreaming.

"Do you know where the troops are? Could it be Liu Biao from Jingzhou?!" Hu Che'er asked while hurriedly fetching his armor.

The servant knelt and said, "I don't know... I still don't know!"

"Gualijin...Gualijin!" Hu Che'er looked somewhat dazed.

"It must be Liu Biao's troops! Liu Biao!"

"When will Liu Biao's troops arrive?! Why haven't you reported this?!" Hu Che'er, still wearing his armor, rushed to the servant and grabbed him by the collar.

"General! General! I truly did not know!" The servant was terrified and turned pale.

"You've misled my military intelligence! I'll kill you!" Hu Che'er said, drawing his sword.

"General, spare me! General, spare me!" The servant struggled a few times, but was stabbed to death by Hu Che'er's sword and fell into a pool of blood.

"Someone come here! Someone come here!" Hu Che'er shouted.

Immediately, servants rushed into the house to help Hu Che'er put on his armor and move the body away.

Hu Che'er, having put on his armor, hurriedly made his way to the East Gate when he encountered a soldier running towards him.

"Report—!"

"General! Gualijin has fallen!" The soldier scrambled to Hu Che'er to report.

Hu Che'er was now fully awake. He kicked aside the soldier blocking his way and rushed up the city wall.

When we reached the crenellation, we could only see someone on the watchtower ten miles away, seemingly sending a signal with a torch; we could no longer hear any shouts.

"Sound the drums and muster the troops!" Hu Che'er roared at the two lieutenants who had just arrived beside him.

"General! Before our departure, our lord instructed us not to engage in battle rashly! Please reconsider!"

One of the lieutenants was more clear-headed than Hu Che'er and immediately remembered Zhang Xiu's instructions.

Another person realized what was happening and advised, "General! We must not disregard the lord's words!"

"Sigh!!!" Hu Che'er pounded on the edge of the wall, clearly remembering Zhang Xiu's repeated instructions.

"General, what should we do?" the adjutant asked again.

"The lord just sent a letter today ordering me to oversee the supply of military provisions. Now that Gualijin has fallen, how are we supposed to get these provisions over there?!" Hu Che'er muttered to himself, completely ignoring his subordinate.

"Master Jia Xu once said that this camp was impregnable, but who would have thought..." another subordinate general complained.

"Shut up!" Hu Che'er scolded.

"You two must go to Guali Ferry immediately, find out which troops are there, and return to report to me!"

"Yes, sir!" The two lieutenants jogged away.

Hu Che'er was naturally cursing Jia Xu in his heart, but if Jia Xu were here, things certainly wouldn't be in such a passive situation now.

Unbeknownst to anyone, they woke up to find themselves in a surprise attack on Gualijin by an unknown force.

From the sounding of drums from the watchtower to the fall of the camp, less than half an hour had passed.

Where exactly are these troops? How many are there? Who is their commander?

How did they manage to break through Gualijin, which Jia Xu claimed was impregnable, so quickly?

Hu Che'er's mind was filled with doubt and anger, and her feelings were very complicated.

Ten miles away, Zhou Cang knelt before the corpse of the supervising official behind the gate of Gualijin Camp, his feelings also very complicated.

"Brother, I... don't even know your... name." Looking at the inspector's bloodied and mangled back, Zhou Cang's tears flowed uncontrollably.

After turning the official over, Zhou Cang reached out and wiped the blood off the official's face again and again.

Before the inspector died, he seemed to be thinking of something pleasant. His eyes were closed and there was even a faint smile on his lips.

Looking at the inspector's face, Zhou Cang couldn't help but think of how he had teased the inspector a few hours earlier for sneaking into the night raid team in order to gain military merit and avoid being punished.

I really want to see that defiant look on that young face again.

With a "thud!", Zhou Cang collapsed to the ground.