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

The city of Yanxian is bordered by the Ru River to the north, and has walls built on the east, west and south sides. Before the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao conscripted laborers to dig deep ditches to divert the Ru River, forming a moat that encircled the entire city.

When Li Dian and Yue Jin woke up, they found that Liu Bei's army had surrounded the city on three sides. Almost overnight, only the north gate of Yan County, which was near the water, was a way out of the city. Unlike the other three gates, the north gate only had a narrow bridge, which the army could only move slowly and could not cross quickly.

Without a moment's hesitation, Li Dian immediately dispatched a messenger to send an urgent report to Guandu.

As soon as Chen Shi (7-9 AM) passed, Zhao Yun at the East Gate, Zhang Fei at the West Gate, and Chen Dao at the South Gate all started beating their war drums almost simultaneously.

Liu Bei and Xu Shu were stationed in the central army, and Lu Su was invited to observe the siege.

Outside the south gate, catapults unleashed countless stones at the city wall, leaving Li Dian and Yue Jin stunned by this three-pronged attack.

"I will guard the south gate, Wenqian, you may go check the west gate!" Li Dian shouted to Yue Jin from behind the parapet.

Le Jin accepted the order and hurriedly ran towards the west gate, hugging the city wall.

Taking advantage of the slight lull in Liu Bei's catapult offensive, Li Dian quickly organized a crossbow counterattack.

"General! The ballista can't hit it!" a soldier rushed in to report.

"What?!" Before Li Dian could react, another round of stones came flying at him.

Amidst the pelting of rocks, Yue Jin was seen running back from the west gate.

"Mancheng! The Ximen bandits are just putting on a show; no soldiers are attacking the city!" Le Jin reported to Li Dian.

"I'm going to the east gate to take a look. You stay here and hold your ground." After giving his instructions, Li Dian ran towards the east gate.

A moment later, Li Dian braved the boulders and ran back.

"The attack on the east gate is also a feint!"

Li Dian and Yue Jin looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.

Outside the city, only catapults were hurling bullets, and not a single soldier was charging into the city. The enemy's crossbows were also out of range, leaving them completely helpless and waiting to be killed.

Liu Bei was in command of the central army when Lu Su, also puzzled, looked at Xu Shu and asked, "Strategist, what is the reason for this? The two gates are feigning an attack, and this gate is only being bombarded with stones. How can this city be breached?"

Xu Shu glanced at Lu Su, then at Liu Bei, who was equally puzzled, and smiled without saying a word.

"Strategist, there aren't many stones left!" a soldier ran up to report.

"When the stones are used up, replace them with clods of earth. Do not stop!" Xu Shu gave the order without hesitation.

"Using clods of earth...?" Lu Su became increasingly curious.

Just then, soldiers were pushing carts carrying clods of earth forward, so Lu Su dismounted to check.

Although it was a clod of earth, after being wrapped with hemp rope, it was about the same size as a stone.

"Could it be that the strategist's intention is not to attack the city, but rather the moat?" Lu Su looked at Xu Shu.

Xu Shu nodded and said, "Ah, you can't hide it from Zijing, hahahaha."

On the walls of Yanxian, Li Dian also noticed something was wrong. The stones had caused some damage to the city walls before, but now the sound was becoming increasingly strange.

"General, look!" a soldier cried out in a panic, pointing down at the city walls.

Li Dian peeked out and saw that many clods of earth wrapped in hemp ropes had crashed onto the city wall and fallen straight into the moat. The originally deep moat had been mostly filled with rocks and clods of earth. In addition, the clods of earth were scattered by the water flow and quickly filled the gaps between the rocks. In many places, it was already possible to wade through the water.

"This is terrible! This is terrible! If this continues, this city will be indefensible!" Li Dian shouted to Yue Jin.

"Being surrounded on three sides is pointless and a death would be pointless. Why not take advantage of the enemy's advance and retreat from the north of the city?" Yue Jin suggested.

"The Prime Minister ordered us to hold our ground; how can we retreat without a fight!" Li Dian rebuked.

As the two were arguing, the bugle call to charge sounded from Liu Bei's army.

"Quickly engage the enemy!" Li Dian and Yue Jin simultaneously put aside their argument, drew their swords, and prepared to fight Liu Bei's army to the death.

"Kill!" Chen Dao's troops shouted as they charged toward the city gate from the south gate, while ladders and battering rams slowly advanced toward the city wall.

Zhou Cang originally requested to be the first to charge into battle, but Xu Shu refused on the grounds that his injuries had not yet healed. Therefore, the task of being the first to charge into battle was still assigned to the vanguard Chen Dao's troops, while Zhou Cang waited for orders by Liu Bei's side in the central army.

Given the limited time and resources, Xu Shu concentrated all the siege equipment, including catapults, ladders, and battering rams, at the south gate.

The tasks assigned to Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, besides bluffing, were to hold the east and west gates and prevent Cao Cao's army from breaking out.

Most of the arrows shot down from the city wall were blocked by the bamboo canopy of the battering rams. Without the protection of the moat, the drawbridge was quickly smashed to pieces.

While Li Dian and his men fought off the soldiers climbing the siege ladders, they could only watch helplessly as the battering rams repeatedly struck the city gate.

"Wenqian! Retreat into the city!" More and more soldiers climbed the city wall, and the city gate was about to be breached. Li Dian, who was covered in wounds, could not hold on any longer and shouted to Le Jin.

The two fought and retreated, eventually getting off the city wall.

"Strategist! Let me lead the charge!" Zhou Cang, seeing the city walls about to be breached, could no longer resist and asked Xu Shu for permission to fight.

This is my first time fighting in front of my lord, how can I just stand by and watch!

Xu Shu saw Chen Dao, dressed in white robes, already charging up the city wall from afar. He nodded to Zhou Cang and said, "Since Yuanfu is so eager for battle, he can lead five hundred soldiers straight into the city to pursue and kill Li Dian and Yue Jin!"

"Your subordinate obeys!" Zhou Cangxing led his troops toward the city gate that had already been breached.

The city walls had already been breached and the city gates had been smashed open. The Cao army in the barracks had completely lost their will to fight. Suddenly, they saw Zhou Cang, a burly man with a dark face, riding a black horse and charging towards them.

Someone shouted, "The black-faced thief from Runan!"

"Whoosh!" Cao's army was thrown into chaos, scrambling to run backward.

Zhou Cang charged forward, brandishing his long-handled sword at anyone he saw, cutting down enemies like leeks as he rushed into the city.

Seeing Liu Bei's army enter in single file, Li Dian and Yue Jin lost all will to fight and split up to find an opportunity to break out.

Li Dian led his remaining troops toward the east gate, but before the drawbridge was fully lowered, he saw Zhao Yun charging toward him on horseback. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and fled back into the city, then headed north.

Le Jin led his troops out of the west gate. Zhang Fei roared and charged forward with his spear. Le Jin fought back for two rounds but was clearly no match for him and retreated back into the city.

Seeing this, Zhang Fei raised his hand and shouted, "Kill!" He led his men to charge straight in. The defending soldiers didn't have time to close the gates and were directly swept into the city by Zhang Fei.

Hearing Zhang Fei rushing into the city behind him, Yue Jin became increasingly nervous and, in his panic, bumped into Zhou Cang head-on.

Seeing that the man was fully armored, followed by a group of cavalry, and carrying a banner with the character "乐" (yue), Zhou Cang guessed that this man was Yue Jin. He mustered all his strength and swung his long-handled sword at him.

With Zhang Fei behind him and Zhou Cang in front, Yue Jin had no choice but to parry with his sword.

With a clang, the two broadswords clashed violently, sparks flying everywhere.

Le Jin's arms went numb, and the space between his thumb and forefinger was shattered, with blood gushing out.

Before he could retaliate, Zhou Cang swung his Mo Dao in a circle and slashed down again.

Le Jin gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and hurriedly tried to parry, but this time he couldn't block it—

Zhou Cang's powerful slash knocked Yue Jin's steel blade away, and then, following the momentum of the slash, cleaved Yue Jin in two, head and shoulder.

"Those who surrender will not be killed!" Zhou Cang roared from his horse, his eyes bloodshot.

When Yue Jin's men saw that their commander had been killed, they all dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground.

Seeing that everyone had surrendered, Zhou Cang quickly dismounted, cut off Le Jin's head, hung it under the horse's head, and then spurred his horse to gallop north of the city.

Li Dian, slow down, wait for Zhou Cang!