The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 383 Lu Xun's Doomsday (2)

At the end of the day, in the Wu army camp.

Lu Xun held the letter sent by Zhuge Jin in his hand, his hair turning much whiter from worry.

They had just suffered another defeat in their fierce attack on the Han army's defenses and were forced to retreat to their camp. As soon as they returned, they received a letter from Zhuge Jin, which contained the devastating news that Pan Zhang had been defeated and that even Liu Zan, who had gone to his aid, had been completely wiped out.

Upon seeing the letter, Lu Xun, Ding Feng, Zhou Fang, and other Wu generals were completely stunned. They were as if they had been hit by a city gate tower and collectively fell into a daze, standing there frozen for more than a quarter of an hour.

Lu Xun remained in a dazed state for a full quarter of an hour before his empty eyes gradually regained focus, and his fingers, like a paralyzed patient gradually recovering, were finally able to move slightly.

When Lu Xun came to his senses, he instinctively wanted to hold the letter up to his face to examine it again. But when he tried to move it, he found that his strength seemed to have been drained from his hands, and he couldn't even hold the letter steady. As soon as he exerted force, the letter fell to the ground with a slight sound.

Although the sound was faint, it was like a thunderclap to Ding Feng and Zhou Fang's ears, startling them and causing them to quickly wake up. They instinctively looked at Lu Xun and asked, "Grand Commander."

Hearing the call, Lu Xun bit his tongue to force himself to wake up, then staggered to the table and sat down. He quickly composed himself and regained the dignity of the Grand Commander, saying, "Judging from Zhuge Jin's letter, Pan Zhang's tactic of holding the camp and entangled Guan Xing, waiting for Zhuge Jin to circle around behind Guan Xing before attacking from both sides, was not wrong. It could even be said to be the only chance to defeat Guan Xing. But why did Pan Zhang not even last three hours before being killed by Guan Xing?"

"Pan Zhang's forces were twice the size of Guan Xing's, and he was in a favorable defensive position, yet he was defeated even faster than the Shanyue in a real battle?"

Mentioning this, Ding Feng also got angry and said cursingly, "That's right, that's right. Pan Zhang was defeated before he even got Zhuge Jin's reinforcements. Not only that, Guan Xing, who defeated Pan Zhang, still had the strength to reorganize a large army to launch an attack on Zhuge Jin. What does that mean? It means that Guan Xing didn't have to put much effort into dealing with Pan Zhang. When did Pan Zhang become so weak?"

Pan Zhang suffered such a crushing defeat that even Ding Feng, who had once been his subordinate, no longer bothered to call him general and started addressing him by his given name.

Zhou Fang continued, "Perhaps it's not that Pan Zhang was too incompetent, but that Guan Xing was too capable. Or perhaps something happened that we don't know yet, such as a traitor. Everyone knows General Pan Zhang's abilities. Without the help of an internal traitor, he would never have been defeated so quickly."

When Zhuge Jin wrote to them, he did not know the specifics of Pan Zhang's defeat. In other words, Zhuge Jin only knew that Pan Zhang had been defeated but did not know the specifics of how he was defeated. Therefore, the battle report he wrote to Lu Xun was also based on only a partial understanding, which forced Lu Xun to rely on guesswork in many things.

But to be honest, Zhou Fang actually guessed it correctly.

Lu Xun rubbed his temples wearily and sighed, "Pan Zhang's defeat is a fact. There's no point in continuing to speculate. Let's talk about reality."

"Now Pan Zhang's 10,000 troops and Liu Zan's 4,000 elite soldiers have become Guan Xing's prisoners. Peng Qi's 20,000 bandit troops are also likely to fall into Guan Xing's clutches. In addition, with the Han troops who followed Guan Xing through, Guan Xing's forces have grown to a terrifying 40,000."

This number terrified Wu generals like Ding Feng and Zhou Fang, their eyelids twitching wildly. It was too frightening; Guan Xing's ability to rapidly increase his troops was too strong. In just a few days, he had increased his original strength more than tenfold. Even if Han Xin were resurrected, he probably wouldn't be able to do it.

What was even more chilling was that Guan Xing's troops exploded from behind them, easily blocking their retreat. How were they supposed to fight back?

Lu Xun continued, "What's most frustrating is that Guan Xing has the ability to quickly turn enemy troops into his personal guards. No matter whose troops they are, once they fall into his hands, they will quickly become loyal to him and serve him."

"In other words, these 40,000 troops have most likely surrendered to Guan Xing and are now at his command. Guan Xing only needs to select 20,000 of them to encircle Yu Han. Zhuge Jin has just lost more than half of his troops and his morale is low. He cannot withstand Guan Xing's fierce attack. Perhaps Guan Xing has already captured Yu Han and entered the corridor to attack us."

"Report..." Before the words were finished, two guards carried a soldier covered in sweat and almost collapsed from exhaustion into the command tent and bowed, saying, "Grand Commander, this man has come from Yuhan and says he has urgent military information to report to the Grand Commander."

Lu Xun's heart skipped a beat and he quickly said, "Then what are you waiting for? Quickly give him some water."

After drinking the water, the soldier finally regained some strength. Looking at Lu Xun weakly, he said, "Reporting to the Grand Commander, I am a squad leader under General Zhuge. When the Han army attacked the city, I originally wanted to go to the city wall to provide support. When I got to the bottom of the city wall, I found Colonel Liu holding a sword to General Zhuge's throat. At that time, the Han army had already reached the top of the city wall. Colonel Liu did not go to defend against the enemy but instead pointed his sword at General Zhuge, which was obviously a betrayal. Therefore, I did not dare to go to provide support and fled the city to quickly come to report to you. This is all the information I know."

Having been devastated by the news of Pan Zhang's defeat, Lu Xun's mental fortitude was much stronger. Upon hearing this, he was no longer lost in thought but waved his hand and said, "I understand. Take him down to rest."

After the soldiers left, the tent fell silent again. Lu Xun forced a smile that looked more like a grimace and said, "It's over. Now we're all going to become like Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, who was defeated at Gaixia. Maybe we're not even as good as Xiang Yu. At least he was able to break through the encirclement. We don't have that kind of strength."

Now, with Shen Yi blocking our way forward and Guan Xing blocking our way back, and Han troops guarding the mountains on both sides, we can't get through. Isn't this an ambush from all sides?

Zhou Fang said unwillingly, "We still have Lord Lü Dai. If Lord Lü can successfully enter the Jinqu Basin and attack Shen Yi's rear, we will still have a chance."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xun felt a glimmer of hope and quickly asked, "Have you heard any news about Lord Lü recently?"

The generals all shook their heads. Zhou Fang said with a bitter smile, "No, the Han army's blockade is too tight. Messengers can't get through at all, so we don't know anything about Lord Lü."

Lu Xun smiled wryly and said, "Then let's not count on Lord Lü. Tell me about the current situation. How should we deal with it?"

The best course of action would naturally be to surrender on the spot. They were already surrounded on all sides, so what was the point of fighting? Surrendering was the easiest solution. Besides, they weren't particularly loyal to Sun Quan anyway, so they might as well surrender.

But no one dared to say it, and no one was willing to be the first to speak out, so the main tent fell silent once again.

Finally, Zhou Fang spoke first: "The best way is to continue the fierce attack on Damo and try to break through Damo City before Guan Xing arrives, but that's a bit difficult."

“However, it will take Guan Xing at least seven or eight days to get here from Yu Han to Da Mo, so if we follow Guan Xing’s example and set up traps in the corridor to block him layer by layer, we can hold him off for more than half a month.”

"Then, while we wait for reinforcements for half a month, I suggest that we immediately send a messenger into the Huangwu Mountains, cross the cliffs to avoid the Han army's outposts and camps, and go to Chaisang to ask General Zhou Tai for help. If all else fails, we can also ask Cao Ren for help."

"That's right, it's Cao Ren. We can't just stay here and fight Guan Xing to the death while Cao Ren stays in Jianye and watches the show with Guan Yu. We have to drag Cao Ren in and let him go into the mountains to attack Wu and Yue, clearing a retreat route for us in the Huangwu Mountains."

He no longer expected to defeat Guan Xing and recapture Kuaiji. Instead, he began to consider how to retreat smoothly and bring the remaining Wu troops back safely.

Lu Xun pondered, "That's one way, but we can't put all our hopes on Cao Ren. We need to prepare several plans."