In the city of Tan County, Lu Meng led the Wu army to defend the city for half a month, during which nearly half of the soldiers and horses were killed. With no sign of reinforcements arriving, he could not help but feel a little regretful.
Although Tan County had sufficient food, fodder and equipment, its military strength was limited. Only 5,000 elite soldiers were brought for this surprise attack. They had been counting on support from Sun Quan's army, but now it was risky to gamble everything on it.
After taking Tan County, Lü Meng recruited 2,000 new soldiers from all over the East China Sea, but he did not dare to entrust them with important tasks, fearing that they would turn against him in battle and bring him death.
Fortunately, Wu Dun could not bear to see his soldiers suffer casualties, so he slowed down the offensive in the past few days. He only used catapults and siege towers to suppress the attack and no longer forced his way into the city. In the past two days, he retreated to the camp early.
Lu Meng could not wait for Zhu Ran to cooperate, nor could he hope that Sun Quan would send troops. Seeing that the morale of Cao's army was gradually declining, he considered retreating. If he continued to defend, all his soldiers would be killed or wounded, and he would have no choice but to surrender.
He discussed with Ling Tong: "The Cao army is surrounding but not attacking, which means they are waiting for Cao Ren to send troops to support them. Our lord was defeated in Shouchun and we don't know when he will send troops. We might as well take this opportunity to break out of the city."
Ling Tong also knew that the situation was critical. Cut off from any news from the outside world, the soldiers were anxious and said helplessly: "A great achievement has been wasted. Isn't it a pity?"
Lu Meng sneered and said, "Victory and defeat are common in the military. Knowing how to advance and retreat is the duty of a general. As long as you and I preserve our strength, sooner or later we will set foot in the Central Plains."
"General, what you said is absolutely right!" Ling Tong clasped his fists and said, "I will go and prepare first. This time when we leave the city, we should be like a dragon returning to the sea. We will eventually soar into the sky."
After dark, Ling Tong led the Wu army to complete the reorganization. The troops gathered in the camp, ate well and waited for orders. They only waited for the Cao army to relax its defense in the second half of the night, and then rushed out from the east gate and broke out to the seaside, where there were navy to support them.
At three o'clock in the morning, Ling led five hundred elite cavalry to clear the way, followed by Lu Meng, and Deng Guang was the rear guard, and they were heading out of the camp towards the east gate.
The moon was dim and the stars were sparse, the night was as cool as water, Lu Meng rode his horse on the empty street, with only the sound of horse hooves echoing. He felt infinite emotion in his heart, and could only sigh that he had not been able to understand current affairs, which made him somewhat unwilling.
Boom boom boom—
At this moment, a rapid drumbeat suddenly sounded outside the city. Lü Meng was startled on his horse and shouted in a deep voice, "Who leaked the news?"
"General, there is a fire in Cao's rear camp!" At this moment, the soldiers on the city wall who were preparing to open the gate cried out in surprise.
"Oh?" Lu Meng was surprised. He urged his horse to the foot of the city, jumped down, and quickly climbed up the city.
Outside the east camp, the rear of Cao's army was red, flames shot up into the sky, the sound of drums was mixed with shouts of killing, and a group of soldiers were charging towards the city.
"What is this?" Lu Meng frowned slightly, but suddenly his eyes lit up and he raised his fist and shouted, "God is really helping me. Great things will be accomplished!"
He immediately turned around and flew down the city wall in a few steps, shouting to Ling Tong inside the city gate: "Gong Ji, there must be Zhu Ran's troops outside the city. Go out of the city quickly to support them. Together we can defeat Cao's army!"
"Yes, sir!" Ling Tong and the Wu army were all greatly encouraged upon hearing this. They gripped their weapons tightly and prepared for battle.
As the city gate slowly opened, Ling Tong roared, raised his sword, and rushed out on his horse. Before the suspension bridge was even stable, his mount had already leaped over it.
There were already Cao's troops on guard in front, but Ling Tong was like a tiger out of a cage, unstoppable. He swung his sword, and there were sharp screams, and several Cao's soldiers fell backwards.
"My men, now is the time to make a contribution. Kill!" Lu Meng then led his troops to charge. At this time, only by burning their boats and fighting hard could they turn the situation around.
The Wu army followed Lu Meng into Cao's camp. Deng Guang didn't care about defending the city and rushed out with them. They had already prepared rockets, firewood and other flammable materials and threw them all at the entrance of the camp.
Fires broke out in front and behind Cao's camp. The Wu army rushed forward and fought desperately. Cao's army was attacked from both sides and was killed, and the soldiers and horses were thrown to the ground and fled in all directions.
Under the firelight, Ling Tong rushed forward on his horse, swinging his sword left and right, and no one could match his opponent. The young man was aroused and seemed to have endless strength.
"Hurry up and meet up with Zhu Ran, and kill Wu Dun and Sima Yi first!" Lu Meng followed closely, and the two of them cooperated well with each other, but the number of Cao's troops was extremely large, and only by killing the generals could the situation be reversed.
Ling Tong was charging forward when he saw a group of soldiers suddenly rushing out from the front. The one in the lead held a spear and blocked their way. It was Wu Dun who led the troops.
"Wu Gou is only good at sneak attacks, prepare to die!" Wu Dun shouted and fought with Ling Tong.
At this time, a big fire had been started in the camp, and the fire was connected to one another. The sounds of killing could be heard everywhere. Wu Dun was no match for Ling Tong. Lu Meng bypassed the place where the two were fighting, killed Cao's army, and went forward to meet Zhu Ran.
When Zang Ba heard about the fighting at the east gate, he also gathered his troops to come to the rescue. He ran into Lu Meng and rushed over with a loud roar.
"Bandits are bandits, how can they know the magic of my military strategy?" Lu Meng smiled coldly and urged his horse to attack Zang Ba.
At this time, Zang Ba and Wu Dun were the strongest generals in Mount Tai. If they were eliminated, the troops would be in chaos. Even if Sima Yi arrived, he would not be able to suppress this bandit army.
Having not been on the battlefield for many days, Lu Meng was itching to show off his skills. If he had not been entrusted with an important task, he would have killed the enemy himself long ago. Now he could finally give it a try, and his morale was high.
In terms of martial arts, Lu Meng was better than Ling Tong. Zang Ba rushed to the front and they fought for more than ten rounds before he could not hold on. Seeing that there were more Wu troops coming from behind, he was afraid of being surrounded, so he shouted and forced Lu Meng to retreat and retreat to the north gate.
"Chase!" Lu Meng was full of fighting spirit and led his troops to chase Zang Ba.
A Wu army was taking advantage of the chaos to attack from the front. As long as Zhu Ran and Ling Tong joined forces, they would be more than capable of dealing with Wu Dun. If they could get rid of Zang Ba and then seize the North Camp, victory would be assured.
He chased forward through the north gate and saw that Cao's army in the north camp was in chaos and was trying to fight hastily. Lu Meng followed closely behind and rushed into the camp, keeping a close eye on Zang Ba.
"Stop it for me!" Zang Ba shouted in panic on the horse.
Cao's soldiers in the camp hurriedly formed a battle formation, but they were unable to stop Lu Meng, whose morale was high. Wu's army took advantage of the situation and chased them into the camp, but they were unable to resist and were forced to flee everywhere.
The defeat was like a landslide. Even though Zang Ba had commanded the troops for many years and the Taishan Army was very fierce, once they met with failure, the morale of the army collapsed, especially the bandit army. They only wanted to save their lives and few were willing to fight to the death.
Lü Meng was overjoyed and shouted angrily, "You rabble, you dare to compete with me?"
Zang Ba was running in a panic in front, and Lu Meng led the elite troops to chase him. The two of them were running around in the camp, and there was chaos in the camp. Some of Cao's soldiers were fleeing, some were on guard, and the camp was very disorganized.
"Lu Meng, you little bastard, stop going too far!" Zang Ba turned back and roared as he walked away.
Ahead was the grain storage area of the rear camp, which was surrounded by grain carts. Zang Ba and his remaining soldiers squeezed into the granary, but were blocked by the vehicles, unable to move forward or backward, and their horses neighed incessantly.
"Taishan thief, this is where you will die!" Lu Meng smiled coldly and urged his horse forward.
The Wu army followed Lu Meng and charged forward, all staring at Zang Ba. Just as they were about to get close to him, countless figures suddenly emerged from behind the vehicles. At the same time, Cao's army appeared on the top of the granary and in the haystacks on both sides.
Crunch—
The sound of the bowstring being pulled was so terrifying that the Wu army was all shocked. Lu Meng's face changed drastically on the horse, and he looked desperate.