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

"So, Liu Bei captured Yancheng in less than a day?"

In a side tent of the Jiangdong camp in Wancheng, Zhou Yu looked at Lu Su with a bewildered expression.

He wasn't surprised by the fighting prowess of Liu Bei's army, but rather regretted that if Sun Ce were still alive, he might have been the one to reap the rewards in Jiangdong.

"Indeed, I observe that Liu Bei's strategist Xu Shu employs clear and well-organized military formations, with a clear distinction between light and heavy troops. It seems that they will soon be able to reach the walls of Xuchang."

As Lu Su stroked his beard, he recalled the scene of Liu Bei's army attacking the city.

"How are Li Dian and Yue Jin, the two generals of Yancheng?" Zhou Yu pressed.

Lu Su sighed and said, "Le Jin was killed by Zhou Cang, a subordinate of Liu Bei. If Li Dian hadn't set fire to the bridge north of the city before leaving, he probably wouldn't have escaped either."

Zhou Yu remained silent for a moment, then, remembering the important matter, asked, "Zijing, how is the matter of money and provisions?"

Lu Su shook his head: "Xu Shu neither agreed nor refused."

"What does this mean?" Zhou Yu asked, puzzled.

Someone asked Liu Bei how much grain he needed, and Xu Shu replied that the more the better.

"Someone said that the lord was sincerely helping, but Xu Shu said that Liu Bei had already formed an alliance with Jingzhou, and there was still some grain left from the grain sent by Jingzhou."

"Someone said that the lord had prepared 10,000 bushels of grain, and Xu Shu said that since it had been prepared, he could not bear to refuse."

"Xu Shu asked when the grain would arrive, and I told him that the grain needed to be escorted by a troop of soldiers."

"We also need to send a letter from Liu Bei to Wancheng, ordering Li Shu to let our army pass through. The grain will arrive in Runan in ten days."

Lu Su gave a brief account of what had happened.

"How will Xu Shu respond?" Zhou Yu stared at Lu Su, hoping to hear the answer he wanted from him.

Lu Su shook his head again and said, "Xu Shu said that Li Shu has surrendered to Liu Bei, and that if we really want to help him, we can just send the grain to the gate of Li Shu's city."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu flew into a rage and cursed, "How dare this traitor speak such nonsense! Li Shu was originally a traitorous general of Jiangdong. Now that Liu Bei has accepted his surrender and taken over the city, he still expects me to send him grain! This is utterly outrageous!"

Zhou Yu's original plan was to first inquire about Liu Bei's troop strength under the pretext of providing supplies, and to assess the possibility that Liu Bei would send troops to support Li Shu.

Under the guise of transporting grain, he hid soldiers in the grain ships and, with his own troops as a guard, sneaked into Wancheng and beheaded Li Shu.

Not wanting his intentions to be too obvious and be seen through by Xu Shu, he could only blame himself for being too impatient.

But who could have imagined that when the Jiangdong army had repeatedly defeated the bandits in Huainan and crossed the river to approach Wancheng, the one who came out of the city to negotiate was actually Mi Zhu, a staff member under Liu Bei.

This unexpected event caught Jiangdong off guard.

Originally, the plan was to take advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack on Cao Cao's rebellion, first kill the traitor Li Shu, recover Lujiang, advance into Huainan, and then look for an opportunity to go north. Unexpectedly, Li Shu had somehow colluded with Liu Bei and brought out Mi Zhu.

Sun Quan and Zhou Yu were unwilling to engage in battle with Liu Bei's camp too early, leaving them in a predicament where neither advancing nor retreating was an option.

This led to Lu Su's strategy of sending him to Runan to probe the military camp.

Just as the two were feeling down, a servant came to report that their lord, Sun Quan, had invited them.

When the two entered the central command tent, all the civil and military officials were already waiting. Sun Quan was pacing back and forth in the tent.

"Gongjin! What's the situation in Runan?" Sun Quan asked hurriedly when he saw Lu Su following behind Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu turned and glanced at Lu Su, who understood and stepped forward to report on his experiences during the trip.

"According to the reports from our spies, Liu Bei seems to be offering Wancheng as a condition for Jingzhou's support," Zhuge Jin added from the side.

"Zijing, in your opinion, is it possible for Liu Bei to capture Wancheng?" Sun Quan continued to ask.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Su replied, "It is uncertain... However, before I arrived at Liu Bei's camp, Xu Shu had already sent reinforcements to Wancheng to support Guan Yu, and it seemed that he was poised to achieve his goal in one battle."

There was a moment of silence in the tent.

"Now that the traitor Li Shu has suddenly surrendered to Liu Bei, it is difficult to attack him quickly, and if we besiege him, we are afraid that Liu Bei will send reinforcements..." Sun Quan stopped halfway through his sentence and looked at Zhou Yu. The civil and military officials in the tent could all see that Sun Quan had the idea of ​​retreating.

Zhou Yu lowered his head and remained silent.

Taishi Ci, under the command of the general, muttered angrily, "Wan City is an isolated city. If the general were here, he would definitely launch a strong attack. Even if Liu Bei sends troops to rescue it, the journey is long and the troops are exhausted. What is there to fear?"

Sun Quan was secretly displeased upon hearing this and wanted to take the opportunity to lash out. However, when he looked up at Zhou Yu, Taishi Ci, and the others in front of him, he thought that if it were his elder brother Sun Ce, he would probably have launched a domineering attack long ago, without having so many worries about the rear.

"Report! Mr. Gu Yong has sent a letter!"

A servant rushed into the tent and handed a letter to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan quickly glanced at the contents of the letter and then handed it to Zhou Yu.

Seeing that Sun Quan frowned and turned his back after reading the letter, Zhuge Jin asked, "What did Mr. Yuan Tan write about?"

Sun Quan remained silent, while Zhou Yu replied while reading the letter: "Chen Deng of Guangling has recently been recruiting soldiers and horses and manufacturing weapons on a large scale, showing a strong momentum to cross the river to the south."

"Ah?" Both the civil and military officials in the tent were taken aback. It was yet another unexpected turn of events. This time, they had gone out in full force, but not only had they gained nothing, their home base was now in danger of being attacked...

A murmur rippled through the tent. Sun Quan turned to Zhou Yu and said, "I think it would be better to retreat for now. What do you think, Gongjin?"

In theory, withdrawing troops is just a matter of the lord's word, but since inheriting Sun Ce's legacy, Sun Quan has been very cautious in everything he does, and he must obtain the consent of key figures before making a decision.

Furthermore, since this military expedition was initiated by Zhou Yu against all odds in an effort to fulfill Sun Ce's dying wish, Sun Quan hoped to hear Zhou Yu announce the decision to withdraw the troops himself.

Zhou Yu slowly closed his eyes, extremely unwilling that this expedition would end in vain, but the truth was that Jiangdong had already missed the best opportunity to march north.

With Li Shu blocking his way in front, Jingzhou remaining a constant threat, and Chen Deng plotting to march south behind him, he was now like a trapped tiger...

Is there any chance for the situation to turn around?

In fact, Sun Quan was even more unwilling than Zhou Yu. Li Shu was both brave and obedient under Sun Ce, yet he dared to attack and kill Yan Xiang, the governor of Yangzhou appointed by Cao Cao, just because of Sun Ce's order.

When Sun Quan took over, Li Shu immediately refused to obey orders and even took in various Jiangdong traitors. When Sun Quan went to ask for them back, Li Shu actually refused directly with the excuse that "those with virtue are brought to service, and those without virtue are betrayed."

It's obvious that they don't respect Sun Quan as a person, rather than acting out of any sense of righteousness.

Sun Quan deeply hated Li Shu. Before launching his campaign, he even wrote to Cao Cao to denounce Li Shu's crimes, taking a roundabout route as the first stop on his campaign, which was somewhat like settling a personal score.

Historically, at the end of Jian'an 5 (200 AD), Sun Quan besieged Wancheng until the city ran out of food. Li Shu requested reinforcements, but Cao Cao refused to help.

The people in the city swallowed mud balls to survive, but they were not spared. After the city fell, Sun Quan beheaded Li Shu, relocated his troops, and massacred the city's inhabitants.

Just as Sun Quan was about to accept the failure of this expedition, he suddenly heard Zhou Yu ask in a low voice, "If we don't take Wan City, but only take Li Shu's life, what does my lord think?"

Sun Quan's eyes widened as he replied, "That suits my taste perfectly!"

Zhou Yu suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Sun Quan, speaking confidently—

"I have a plan; I am willing to offer Li Shu's head to my lord!"