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

Chapter 388 Lu Xun's Doomsday (7)

Upon receiving Guan Xing's order, Deng Hong mustered his troops and set off at breakneck speed, even outrunning the scouts.

Unlike Guan Xing, who was cautious and unafraid of being ambushed, he had Guan Xing behind him. What did he have to fear? Even if he were ambushed, Guan Xing would rescue him.

With this in mind, Deng Hong charged forward without any regard for anything else. However, despite his haste, he was still a step too late. He encountered Wu's army digging a trap when he was only about ten miles away from Yushan City. Moreover, Wu's army seemed to have just arrived as well. The trap was only about a hundred meters wide, just within the range of arrows.

Deng Hong watched the busy Wu army through the trap and cursed angrily, "Damn it, we were just one step too slow. Go and report to General Guan Xing immediately."

Deng Hong, who had sent out the messenger, was unwilling to retreat. He roared at the Wu army opposite the trap, "Who is leading the army on the other side? Come out and have a chat."

The Wu army opposite them consisted of Ding Feng and Lü Ju, who had been ordered by Lu Xun to slow down Guan Xing's march.

Upon receiving the message, Ding and Lü stepped forward simultaneously. After staring at Deng Hong for a moment, Ding Feng beckoned with his finger and provocatively said, "What's the point of chatting through a trap? Come over here if you dare."

As Guan Yu's personal guard, Deng Hong had met many of the generals of Eastern Wu, though he hadn't had much direct interaction with them. Moreover, many of his soldiers were former Wu soldiers and recognized Ding Feng and Lü Ju. Therefore, he quickly identified the two men and said sarcastically, "Who do we have here? It's Lü Ju and Ding Feng, who abandoned Xu Sheng and hid in the cave to avoid our army's search. We've been raising soldiers for a thousand days to use them for one. The Marquis of Wu has given you high positions and generous salaries, but when he needs you, you two hide in the cave and don't even dare to show your faces. Is that appropriate? What kind of soldiers are you, so cowardly? Wouldn't it be better to go home and take care of your children?"

"Speaking of which, where do you two get the confidence to appear in front of our army again? Aren't you afraid of being surrounded and captured by our army again? Where are you planning to hide this time, in a rat hole?"

These words were a bit like a cruel joke, deliberately exposing his weaknesses. Recalling his humiliation that day, Ding Feng was so angry that he lost his temper on the spot, drew his sword, pointed it at Deng Hong, and shouted: "You, surnamed Deng, have insulted me too much. I will fight you to the death. Today, it's either you or me."

As he spoke, he was about to step into the gap in the trap and rush towards Deng Hong. Strangely, only his upper body was leaning forward, while his lower body did not move at all. Not only did he not move, but he also kept bumping Lü Ju with his elbow to remind him to stop him.

Ding Feng wasn't stupid. How could he abandon his army and commit suicide just because of a few insults from Deng Hong? There were four or five thousand men on the other side.

Lu Ju was also a shrewd person. Upon hearing this, he immediately hugged Ding Feng from behind and advised, "General, calm down. There's no need to argue with such a villain, lest you fall into his trap."

Lu Ju's attempts to calm Ding Feng only fueled his anger. Ding Feng struggled violently in Lu Ju's arms and kicked his legs wildly in the air, shouting, "Let me go! A scholar can be killed but not humiliated! I will fight this villain to the death!"

Lu Ju actively cooperated with the performance, not only not loosening his grip but holding on even tighter, while pulling Ding Feng backward, quickly dragging him into the group and making him disappear from Deng Hong's sight.

Ding Feng then sheathed his sword and said, "Guan Xing arrived so quickly. We originally thought it would take him at least two days to reach Yushan, which would have been enough time for us to dig the trap all the way to Yushan City. We didn't expect the Han army to arrive so soon after we started digging. Damn Guan Xing, he really doesn't give us any breathing room at all."

Lu said, "Yes, what do we do now?"

Ding Feng pondered, "Immediately send a messenger to report to the Grand Commander. Leave a team here to continue setting traps to attract the Han army's attention, and the rest of the troops should retreat to Yushan and continue setting traps on the east side of Yushan. Digging the pits will take time, and we must make up for that time ourselves. Also, send scouts into the mountains to investigate and prevent the Han army from sneaking in from the mountains to block us."

Lu Ju nodded and said, "Alright, I'll take a thousand men to stay behind and set up traps to attract attention. You take the rest of the others back."

Ding Feng did not refuse, and the two parted ways.

At the same time, Guan Xing also received a message from Deng Hong and frowned, saying, "Lu Xun arrived so quickly. I thought we wouldn't meet him until we passed Jade Mountain."

Liu Zan pondered, "General Wu Yue said earlier that Lu Xun sent Zhou Fang to carry out the self-inflicted injury ruse. So the question is, how does Lu Xun intend to carry out this self-inflicted injury ruse, or rather, what does Lu Xun want to gain from General Shen Yi through this ruse?"

The "feigned injury" tactic is a fraud. Since it's fraud, what is the scammer's purpose? Is it to swindle money or to sexually assault someone?

Without a second thought, Guan Xing blurted out, "Is there any need to ask? Naturally, the plan is to trick Shen Yi into leaving the city to pursue them, then ambush him on the way and catch him off guard. If all goes well, they might even break through the Da Mo defense line and enter the Jin Qu Basin, thus turning the tide of the entire battle."

Suddenly realizing something, he said excitedly, "So that means Lu Xun's main force is still by the Gu River, several days away from Yushan?"

It's 200 li from Yushan to Damu. Even if Lu Xun received news of the plan's failure and abandoned his intention to ambush Shen Yi before rushing here, it would still be at least 100 li away.

Moreover, Lu Xun is now like a frightened bird and probably wouldn't dare to underestimate his enemy and advance rashly. A distance of a hundred miles would take at least a day to travel, and if he uses that time well, it would be enough for him to devour Ding Feng and Lü Ju.

Liu Zan nodded and said, "That's right. Another point worth noting is that if Lu Xun really succeeds in luring General Shen Yi into the ambush, it will take time to encircle and annihilate him. At this time, the most feared thing is that the battle to annihilate Shen Yi is not over yet, but we attack from behind and rescue Shen Yi, or even join forces with Shen Yi to attack and annihilate them. Therefore, Lu Xun will definitely send troops to block us and slow down our march to buy time for him to annihilate Shen Yi. Ding Feng and Lü Ju are definitely carrying out this mission."

"That means Lu Xun is at least two days away from Ding Feng and Lü Ju. If we can really defeat Ding Feng and Lü Ju before Lu Xun arrives, it will definitely be a heavy blow to the morale of the Wu army."

"Even if we can't finish them off, it doesn't matter. Wu Jun's morale will definitely be affected once he knows he's surrounded. In this situation, any defeat could be the last straw that breaks the camel's back and the final blow that crushes Wu Jun's morale. So we don't need to annihilate Ding Feng and Lü Ju. We just need to gain a small advantage so that Wu Jun can feel the blow of defeat."

Guan Xing immediately said, "What you said makes sense. Immediately send an order to Wu Yue that the five thousand men should not return to their camp yet. Instead, they should immediately circle around to the rear of Ding Feng and Lü Ju to block their retreat. Also, Ding Feng and Lü Ju are very likely aware of our infiltration. Tell Wu Yue to make the circle wider."

"Order Deng Hong to immediately go into the mountains to cut down trees and build bamboo rafts. Use the bamboo rafts to cover the traps and quickly clear a passage for the army. The rest of you should speed up your journey and meet up with Deng Hong as quickly as possible."

Previously, we dared not march quickly for fear of being ambushed by Wu's army. Now that Wu's army has shown itself and we know their exact location, we no longer need to hesitate and can charge forward with all our might.

Guan Xing led his troops at full speed, and as he ran, a sense of relief rose in his heart. Fortunately, he had given Wu Yue five thousand soldiers in advance, otherwise things would have been really difficult.

The army was only a dozen miles away from Deng Hong, and they successfully met up in just half an hour. Deng Hong came to Guan Xing and said with shame, "General, the time was too short, and we did not bring enough logging tools, so we could not build the bamboo rafts."

Guan Xing said, "Then let the swordsmen and shieldmen carry their shields into the trap area, remove the bamboo spikes from the pits, and quickly clear a path."

At Guan Xing's command, more than a thousand elite soldiers raised their shields and entered the trap area, squatting down to dig out the bamboo sticks from the pits and throwing them aside.

Without the bamboo skewers, the traps were like toothless tigers, no longer possessing any lethality. The Han army, stepping on the traps, pressed forward with overwhelming force.