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

Chapter 390 Lu Xun's Doomsday (9)

Upon hearing Deng Hong's attempt to persuade him to surrender, Lü Ju felt so ashamed that he wished he could disappear into the ground.

The main problem is that Deng Hong's words were infuriating. What did he mean by "captured again"? Doesn't he know that the word "again" has a double impact?

Lu Ju struggled desperately, but he couldn't break free from Deng Hong's chokehold. In the end, he simply closed his eyes and fainted to avoid seeing it again.

Unexpectedly, this action greatly frightened Deng Hong. Seeing that Lü Ju had stopped struggling, Deng Hong thought he had suffocated and died. He quickly let go of his legs, got up and checked him. He first checked his breathing to make sure he was breathing, and then pushed him a few times. He found that Lü Ju's eyelids were twitching but he didn't wake up. He knew that this guy was deliberately playing dead, so he simply took off his belt, tied him up and carried him away.

At the same time, the Han army in the rear had also rushed up and surrounded the Wu army. Guan Xingliu Zan rushed to Deng Hong and looked at Lü Ju on his shoulder, teasingly saying, "Hey, isn't this General Lü Ju? We really have a connection, meeting again."

As Lu Ju's lips twitched violently, he subconsciously buried his head in Deng Hong's arms, burying his head in Deng Hong's chest like an ostrich, while secretly cursing himself for not actually fainting.

That damn Guan Xing, that damn Deng Hong, their mouths are like they've been smeared with arsenic, their words are so infuriating.

Guan Xing ordered Liu Zan to take Lü Ju away to rest, and instructed Deng Hong: "Lü Ju has been captured and Ding Feng is not far away. Order the army to speed up their actions and make sure to reach Yushan before dark to catch up with Ding Feng and reunite him with Lü Ju."

"Yes..." Deng Hong set off again, with Guan Xing leading his troops in close pursuit.

Meanwhile, Ding Feng had successfully returned to Yushan, but he did not dare to stay in the city for long. Instead, he abandoned the city and continued to retreat, establishing a defensive line in the corridor east of Yushan.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use the city's defenses to block Guan Xing, but rather that the dilapidated city walls of Yushan were too low and had no defensive function whatsoever. If he were to hold the city and fight to the death, he would not only fail to stop the Han army but would also trap himself, which would be nothing more than asking for trouble. So he simply decided against it.

Ding Feng retreated ten miles to set up a trap to ambush the enemy, but before he could act, he received Lu Xun's latest order. A group of messengers rushed from the direction of Da Mo and solemnly told Ding Feng, "General Ding, the Grand Commander orders you to abandon the ambush and retreat immediately to Jiangshan Town to meet him."

Ding Feng asked in astonishment, "Why is that?"

The messenger replied, "This humble servant does not know, but the Grand Commander repeatedly instructed you to act immediately upon receiving the order, and to be quick, lest you be intercepted by the Han army's infiltration forces."

Military orders are like mountains, and Ding Feng dared not neglect them. Lu Xun's urgent tone made him even more hesitant, and he immediately shouted, "Immediately notify General Lü Ju to retreat quickly. If he is blocked by the Han army, he should escape into the Wuyi Mountains. The rest of you, retreat with me."

With Ding Feng's order, the four thousand Wu soldiers swiftly retreated. The retreating Wu soldiers were exceptionally spirited, moving so fast that even a rabbit couldn't catch them, let alone the Wu and Yue forces that were maneuvering through the mountains.

"What? Ding Feng didn't hold the line at Yushan, but instead withdrew to Damu?"

Wu Yue, who was scouting in the mountains, was horrified when he heard the scout's report. His mission was to sneak up behind Ding Feng and block his retreat, which meant he had to get ahead of Ding Feng. To achieve this, there was a prerequisite: Ding Feng had to stay in Yushan and not run around. Now that Ding Feng had run away, what could he use to block him? Should he continue to catch up with or even surpass Ding Feng?

Stop talking nonsense. I'm taking a mountain path, while Ding Feng is taking a flat road. Even if I run myself to death, I still can't catch up with him.

After a moment's thought, Wu Yue abandoned the idea of ​​pursuing them, sent someone back to report to Guan Xing, and slowed down to await new orders.

The distance from Yushan City to Jiangshan Town is over a hundred miles. Ding Feng was also afraid of the Han army's infiltration tactics, so he dared not stop and traveled overnight, successfully arriving at Jiangshan Town at noon the next day to meet up with Lu Xun.

Ding Feng ran up to Lu Xun, panting, and bowed, saying, "Grand Commander, I have returned, but I do not understand why we retreated. Please enlighten me, Grand Commander."

You're the one who sent me to intercept them, and you're the one who told me to retreat. Are you kidding me?

Lu Xun reached out to help him sit down, then personally poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. After he finished drinking, Lu Xun sighed and said, "Zhou Fang hasn't returned. Our plan to feign surrender and lure the enemy has failed."

Although Lu Xun and Zhou Fang both hoped the plan would succeed by using the self-inflicted injury strategy, they also made contingency plans for the plan's failure. Before leaving, Zhou Fang specifically instructed Lu Xun that if he did not return within three hours, it would mean the plan had failed, and Lu Xun should make other plans.

Lu Xun waited for Zhou Fang for five whole hours on the banks of the Gu River but no one came. He then led scouts to the city of Damu to observe and found that the Han army inside the city was heavily defended and had no intention of pursuing them. He knew that the plan had failed and led his army to retreat.

Upon hearing this, Ding Feng's face fell instantly, and he asked anxiously, "Then what do we do now? Is there really no way to solve this?"

Lu Xun said, "On the way to Jiangshan Town, I carefully reviewed our experience of the Eastern Expedition and found that we had a common point in every failure: we unintentionally chose to divide our troops, which gave Guan Xing an opportunity to take advantage of us."

"Guan Xing used constant flanking maneuvers to lead us by the nose, forcing us to divide our forces to resist. In the end, we were divided, surrounded, and devoured piece by piece. If you think about it carefully, Han Dang, Xu Sheng, and even Pan Zhang and Zhuge Jin all died in the same way."

"Guan Xing's specialty was using various methods to disperse our main force into pieces, and then concentrating superior forces to devour the smaller pieces. According to Han prisoners of war, Guan Xing called this tactic mobile warfare, which is quite apt."

"So if I hadn't recalled you just now, you'd probably be gone by now."

Ding Feng opened his mouth but did not refute it; the fact that he had not yet received any news from Lü Ju was enough to prove the point.

Lu Xun continued, "Now that I think about it, if we hadn't chosen to split our forces and instead had let Han Dang and Xu Sheng come to Damo with the main force, the outcome might have been different. Perhaps we would have already broken through Damo and advanced into Zhuji."

"But it's too late to say anything now. The only way is to abandon all illusions, concentrate all our forces and fight Guan Xing to the death. If we win, we'll fight our way back to Yuhan. If we lose, we'll leave it to fate and do whatever we want. That's why I've recalled you and Liu A."

Ding Feng asked in surprise, "What will happen to Cao Ren now that Liu A is back? Are we just going to ignore him?"

Liu A was ordered to go into the mountains to clear out the Han army's outposts and to join forces with Cao Ren to open up the Huangwu Mountain area. Now that Liu A has withdrawn, Cao Ren is in a bind.

Lu Xun explained, "I've thought about it carefully, and contacting Cao Ren is extremely unreliable. First of all, it's questionable whether Cao Ren will even send troops. Secondly, Wanling is nearly 700 li from here, and the route is full of famous mountains and rivers such as Jiuhua Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, and Baiji Mountain. Even if Cao Ren doesn't have the Han army blocking him, it would probably take him half a month to get here. Do you think Guan Xing would give us half a month?"

"So now we can't rely on anyone but ourselves, and the only way is to concentrate all our strength and fight Guan Xing to the death."

Ding Feng frowned and said, "The Grand Commander is right. Guan Xing's troops are a hodgepodge of Pan Zhang's surrendered soldiers and Peng Qi's bandit army. Logically speaking, their combat strength is not high, and they should not be our match with equal numbers of troops. However, their morale is high, while our morale is low due to repeated setbacks. If we really fight, our chances of winning are too small."

Lu Xun said, "Yes, that's why we must burn the grain and destroy the boats during the decisive battle to cut off the soldiers' hopes so that they will fight to the death."

"Furthermore, Shi Xin is no longer trustworthy, so I sent him with dozens of personal guards carrying ropes, hammers, and chisels to cross the Wuyi Mountains and contact Lü Dai. If he makes contact with Lü Dai, he should return the way he came and retreat immediately. If he fails to make contact, we can only leave it to fate."