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

"General, spare my life..." A scout lay on his side on the ground, an arrow stuck in his back, pleading for mercy from Zhou Cang, who was walking towards him with a waist knife.

Just now, he had spotted Zhou Cang and his men looking towards Hefei from the top of Da Shu Mountain. He was about to return to camp to report when he accidentally startled them and was shot off his horse by an arrow from Zhou Cang's personal guard.

"Whose unit are you from?" Before Zhou Cang could speak, a guard began interrogating the scout.

"I am from General Zhang Xun's unit..." the scout replied with difficulty, enduring the pain from his arrow wound.

"Do you know who is in Hefei?" Zhou Cang walked up to the scout and held a knife to his neck, asking.

"I know, I know, the one in the city is... Pang Tong, Liu Bei's deputy military advisor..." The scout was so frightened that his face turned pale.

"Since you know my lord's name, why have you come to attack?" Zhou Cang stared at the scout.

"It was Prime Minister Cao, Prime Minister Cao. Prime Minister Cao sent an envoy to General Zhang and made a promise..."

"What promise?"

"I promise to sweep away Hefei and appoint General Zhang as the Prefect of Jiujiang..." the scout said, his voice growing softer and softer.

As Zhou Cang had predicted, such a violent mutiny was indeed instigated by Cao Cao.

"How many men have you brought?"

"Ten thousand people..."

"Still dare to hide it?! Ten thousand men have so many military camps?" A guard stepped forward, drew his sword, and pretended to kill the scout.

"General, spare my life! I dare not conceal the truth! My army only numbers ten thousand; the remaining twenty thousand are troops from Jiangdong!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Cang's heart skipped a beat. Thirty thousand men were besieging Hefei!

He only brought four thousand men, three thousand of whom were new recruits.

"Help him up," Zhou Cang instructed his personal guards after calming himself down.

"Let me ask you, is that camp at the foot of Jiming Mountain your granary?" Zhou Cang asked the scout, pointing into the distance.

"That's right, that's right."

How many soldiers are on the garrison?

"Two thousand people."

"How many soldiers are stationed on this main road?" Zhou Cang asked, pointing to the main road not far down the mountain.

"A thousand people."

"How many days have you been besieging the city? How is the battle going?"

"We've been besieging it for ten days. When we first arrived in Hefei, General Lei Bo was our inside man, and we had already stormed into the city..." the scout said tremblingly.

"And then?"

"Later, for some reason, Lei Bo was killed by a man named Gan Ning in the city. They killed all the inside agents, and our army was driven back outside the city."

Fortunately, Gan Ning is here! It seems that Mr. Pang Tong should be alright.

"I see you all are very busy outside the city. What are you planning?" Zhou Cang asked.

"Because our army has been unable to capture the city for a long time, Prime Minister Cao's envoy said he was willing to help us break through the city and is currently teaching us how to make siege weapons."

"What was the messenger's name?"

"The envoy is Mr. Liu Ye."

"Liu Ye? You guys are building a trebuchet?" Zhou Cang exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah, exactly!"

"Return to camp and take him back!"

The guards quickly tied the scout up and then returned to Nomura.

When Liao Hua heard that the enemy force numbered a full 30,000, he was equally astonished and speechless.

"Yuanjian, there's no need to worry. I've heard that there was once a great general in Hefei who, with only eight hundred brave warriors, stormed straight into the enemy's central camp and wiped out 100,000 enemy soldiers in a short time!" Zhou Cang reassured him.

"Oh? Such a divine general! Who is this person?" Liao Hua asked in surprise.

"Uh, I only heard about it by chance, I can't remember the specific name..." Zhou Cang gave a vague answer.

I definitely wouldn't remember; these are things that haven't happened yet...

However, as soon as he said it, Zhou Cang suddenly felt much more at ease. He remembered that the Jiangdong army had always been incompetent in foreign wars, so these 20,000 men probably didn't have much fighting power either...

Thinking of this, Zhou Cang picked up a few pebbles and rehearsed the view of Hefei City that he had seen from the mountaintop that day on the ground.

The enemy troops on the main road at the foot of Mount Dashu were clearly there specifically to guard against reinforcements coming from Runan, indicating that they were quite well prepared.

Jiming Mountain and the road beside it, which originally appeared to be for the defense of enemy forces in the direction of Shouchun, have now been occupied by the enemy and used as a place to store grain.

Needless to say, Xiaoyaojin was filled with Jiangdong troops, from the water to the camps on the shore.

"Yuanjian, I believe that to defeat the enemy, we should first destroy their granaries," Zhou Cang said earnestly to Liao Hua.

Zhou Cang couldn't explain military strategy in detail, but he could come up with practical methods.

"Brother is right. If the granary is breached, the enemy will lose all will to fight." Liao Hua nodded vigorously.

"It's not about the quantity of soldiers, but their quality. So, I'll lead eight hundred men, take the mountain path around Jiming Mountain, and set fire to their supplies." Zhou Cang pointed to the location of Jiming Temple.

"You will lead two thousand men to launch a feigned attack on the bandit army at the foot of Mount Da Shu. Once I burn the granary, the bandit army will be thrown into chaos. Then, the two of us will join forces to attack the city!" Zhou Cang finished his instructions and looked at Liao Hua.

"Good! When shall we make our move?" Liao Hua asked.

Zhou Cang thought for a moment, his gaze lingering between the two stones that symbolized Mount Dashu and Mount Jiming.

With the granary attacked, the enemy will certainly be thrown into disarray to fight back, but the Jiangdong army might come to its rescue. In that case, the enemy will have a numerical advantage and it might be difficult to defeat them...

Zhou Cang scratched his head, lamenting how low his intelligence score was!

Mountains! Mountains! Mountains! This Great Shu Mountain definitely has more potential!

Zhou Cang closed his eyes and began to ponder deeply—

Got it!

To prevent Jiangdong from rashly coming to our aid, we need to create the illusion that we have a large and powerful force!

Since Mount Da Shu can see the Jiangdong camp at Xiaoyao Ford, the opposite side must also be able to see Mount Da Shu...

"Instead of launching a surprise attack, we should raid the enemy camp at night!"

"Leave two hundred men here to guard the camp, and have the remaining thousand men carry torches in both hands and move around Mount Dashu as a feint. What do you think?" Zhou Cang said to Liao Hua, his eyes shining.

"This plan is excellent! This plan is excellent!" Liao Hua exclaimed excitedly.

"Hefei City has not been repaired for a long time. If we wait until the enemy's trebuchets are all built, we may not be able to hold out for long. We should act quickly. Yuanjian, go and prepare. We will set off before dark!" Zhou Cang added.

"Yes, sir!" Liao Hua immediately went out to make arrangements.

The enemy's speed was faster than Zhou Cang had anticipated. With more than an hour left before nightfall, the enemy had already begun a probing attack on the city using trebuchets.

The thunderous roar of stones crashing against the city walls echoed all the way to the village where Zhou Cang and the others were. Liao Hua rushed back and asked Zhou Cang, "Brother, the enemy has begun their attack! Should we charge in now?!"

"Yuanjian, calm down and quickly prepare the troops for a good meal before setting off!" Zhou Cang said to Liao Hua, who looked anxious.

Liao Hua nodded and went to relay the order.

Zhou Cang relaxed his shoulders and made the final preparations, thinking to himself, "Pang Shiyuan, Gan Xingba, you must hold on until nightfall!"

Finally, after dark, the sounds of the siege began to fade away, and then fell silent.

The 4,000 soldiers were divided into three groups. The first to set off was Zhou Cang's troops, which had to take a detour to Jiming Mountain, taking about half an hour. Next was Liao Hua's feint attack force, which took about a quarter of an hour. Finally, the decoy troops were heading to Dashu Mountain, which was only five or six miles away.

Filled with worry for Pang Tong and the others, Zhou Cang led eight hundred men on a frantic run, arriving at the foot of Jiming Mountain around 7 PM, where they ambushed the troops in the woods beside the main road.

From a distance, the enemy's fortified camp, though heavily guarded, was actually defending Shouchun, so the garrison was mostly concentrated in the direction facing Hefei, with few people at the foot of the mountain.

Seeing this, Zhou Cang divided the eight hundred men into two teams. The first team of three hundred men was responsible for setting fires, while the second team of five hundred men followed him to attack the enemy camp.

"Have you prepared the ignition source?" Zhou Cang asked, turning around.

The soldiers nodded.

"The northwest wind is blowing hard here. When you hear the cannon fire, fire rockets from the mountain into the camp. After you've set the fire, come down the mountain and join me in charging into the enemy camp!"

"Yes, sir!"

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Zhou Cang confirmed that the three hundred men had arrived and then signaled his men to fire cannons as a signal.

"Bang!" A cannon shot rang out, instantly waking everyone at the foot of Jiming Mountain.

Three hundred men, taking advantage of the northwest wind, fired the rockets they had prepared in advance into the camp.

The enemy's unsuspecting granary was engulfed in flames in an instant.

"Fire! Fire!" the patrolling soldier shouted in a panic.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Zhou Cang shouted, "Kill!" and rushed out from the side of the road, heading towards the camp gate where flames were shining brightly!

The enemy camp was thrown into chaos instantly. Due to the siege of the city by the army and the continuous supply of grain carts day and night, the camp gates had not even been closed before Zhou Cang charged in.

"Kill them!" Zhou Cang shouted to the soldiers behind him, holding a long-handled sword.

The eight hundred men who brought the burning grain were all veterans who had participated in the Battle of Wancheng. They were experienced and brave.

At this moment, armed with their newly issued "small long swords," they were all exceptionally brave, shouting as they charged left and right through the enemy camp. Most of the guards Zhang Xun had arranged for the granary had just woken up from their sleep when they became victims of their blades.

Upon hearing the firelight and shouts coming from the direction of the granary, Zhang Xun, who had received the report of the enemy attack and had already set off from the main camp under Hefei City to meet the enemy on the mountain road of Dashu Mountain, panicked and hurriedly led his troops to rush towards Jiming Mountain.

When Zhang Xun and his men were halfway there, they saw that the fire had spread to the joint camp below the city and became increasingly panicked. Just then, they encountered Zhou Cang, covered in blood, riding a horse and leading his troops.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the eight hundred men, taking advantage of the fire, cut through the grain-guarding camp like chopping melons and vegetables, and headed straight for the main camp below the city.

Seeing that the man was fully armored and wielding a long sword, Zhou Cang guessed he was a general and shouted, "Who goes there?!"

Zhang Xun calmly replied, "I am Zhang Xun. Who are you, bandit general, that you dare to burn my camp?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Cang realized he had encountered the bandit leader and shouted, "Zhou Cang is here!" He then spurred his horse forward, raising his longsword high.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xun realized it was Zhou Cang, the legendary general who had killed Cao Hong in Wancheng. He inwardly groaned and quickly raised his sword to parry.

Zhou Cang exerted all his strength, without any finesse, and directly cleaved Mount Hua in two with a single, powerful strike—

"Crack!" Zhang Xun, who was used to being a local tyrant in Shouchun, could not withstand Zhou Cang's immense strength. Not only was the hilt of his sword cut in half by Zhou Cang, but his head was also sliced ​​off along with the momentum of the sword!

"Thump!" Zhang Xun's headless body fell to the ground from his horse!

"Zhang Xun is dead; those who surrender will not be killed!"