The Wu army successfully dug up the river embankment and retreated to the west. Along the way, they heard thunderous waves sweeping towards Shouchun. The soldiers were all happy and talked about drowning Shouchun Cao's army and asking them to suffer the consequences.
Lu Fan was worried all the way. He didn't expect that Sun Quan would send more troops. He obviously no longer trusted him, and he felt an inexplicable sense of crisis.
Since Sun Quan took control of Jiangdong, although he gave more comfort to Sun Ce's old troops, they did not put them into serious use. Except for Zhou Yu, most of them died of accidents or illness. Some people rumored that this was Sun Quan's secret deliberate move.
Lu Fan and Sun Ce had known each other as early as Shouchun. They followed him and made many contributions, and he was highly regarded by Sun Ce. He was originally happy to meet the Ming Lord, but he unexpectedly suffered a sudden misfortune, which was regrettable.
When Sun Quan first took charge of Jiangdong, he was able to appoint talented people. However, as he grew up, he became dictatorial in recent years and deliberately suppressed Sun Ce's old troops. Lu Fan was also trembling. Fortunately, he had always been poor and self-sufficient, never made friends with outsiders, and was quite popular. Be reused.
After this incident, Lu Fan became a little uneasy. After the death of the wife, various rumors suddenly spread in Soochow, and even talked about Sun Ce being killed by Sun Quan's conspiracy, which shocked people's hearts for a while.
Sun Quan was furious about this, and ordered Han Dang to personally supervise Fan's army, conduct a thorough investigation of all areas of the government and the public, and arrest and interrogate those who spread rumors. This caused uproar in the city and panic among people.
Sun Quan's personal expedition to the north this time was not only for the purpose of opening up territory and expanding the territory, but also to disperse conflicts and prepare all the civil and military forces for war, instead of being idle and suspicious every day.
Lu Fan was thinking about how to protect himself when he returned. Soldiers came to report that the fields ahead had been flooded and could not be passed, so he could only continue to detour westward.
…
In the Wu army's tent, the lights were brightly lit. Sun Quan, in armor, was sitting in command, looking around at the civilians and military officers with doubtful faces, with a smug smile on his lips.
No matter how wise Lu Su was, Huang Gai, Han Dang and others who had been on the battlefield for a long time still could not figure out his strategy. He finally surpassed these veterans in strategy.
Huang Gai cupped his fists and said: "Shouchun City is damaged in many places. We can take the opportunity to build more catapults and rams. We can just wait for the weather to clear up and then attack the city in one go. If we retreat now, wouldn't all our previous efforts be wasted?"
Han Dang and other generals also asked for orders one after another, unwilling to retreat and preparing to avenge their dead comrades.
Lu Su was also puzzled. Sun Quan had previously planned to attack Shouchun and made bold promises that he would not retreat until the city was breached. Why did he suddenly retreat overnight?
Although he didn't know what he meant, he knew that Lu Meng had sneaked into Xuzhou and could not retreat at this time. He advised: "We are stationing troops here to contain Cao Ren. I hope your lord will think twice."
"Hahaha, I have a clever plan..." Sun Quan stroked his beard and laughed, and was about to talk loudly when suddenly the defenders hurriedly reported in.
"Report - there is a flood spreading throughout the camp."
"Huh?" Sun Quan frowned slightly and waved his hand: "With continuous rain, it is inevitable that the river will overflow. Don't panic. Dig the soil first to block it."
After the defenders retreated, Sun Quan was about to order the generals to return to camp and break out of camp when he saw a flood pouring in from the corner of the tent, and in the blink of an eye it reached everyone's feet.
Han Dang was the first to discover it and exclaimed: "Where is the flood?"
Lu Su and others all stood up. The first thing to do when setting up camp is to guard against water and fire. There are trenches and canals all around, and the camp can also be drained. How could there be such a large amount of water flooding in?
"Report - something bad happened, Dongying was flooded!"
“Report—flooding in Xiying!”
When everyone was panicking, emergency reports came from each camp. Han Dang, Huang Gai and other generals were shocked. In a blink of an eye, the water filled the camp and reached the feet.
Sun Quan's expression also changed drastically, he stood up suddenly, slapped the table and shouted: "Get out quickly!"
Jia Hua hurriedly stepped forward to help Sun Quan. Lu Su also noticed that the water was extremely powerful. He realized something was wrong and asked urgently: "Does the lord know about it?"
Sun Quan walked out quickly. The water was almost up to his knees. He shouted: "Get your horses ready, it's too late to explain."
When I left the camp, I saw darkness all around. There were sounds of waves everywhere, mixed with the screams of soldiers. It was hard to see how big the flood was in the middle of the night.
When the soldiers found the torch and lit it, they looked around and saw that there was turbid river water all around. Sun Quan was soaked to the skin, and his wounds began to itch again. He cursed in a low voice: "Lu Fan missed me!"
The Wu army screamed in agony, each fighting for their mounts and retreating south. Most of the soldiers were trapped in the water. Although most Wu people knew how to swim, they could only struggle helplessly in this torrent.
When the sky was dim, the generals escorted Sun Quan and fled to Hefei. Looking back, he saw that the soldiers were covered in mud and had incomplete armor, and only more than 2,000 people followed him.
Han Dangwu was shocked and wondered: "Such a huge flood, unless the Huaihe River bursts its banks..."
"This must be Cao's army digging the river embankment again!" Huang Gai suddenly woke up and cursed: "Cao's thief is so vicious, he will definitely cut off his descendants and die a good death."
"Old thief Cao Ren, I am his ancestor!"
"If I don't take this revenge, I swear I won't be a human being!"
…
For a time, everyone in the army was cursing, gnashing their teeth, and all kinds of vulgar words could be heard endlessly, as if another flood had erupted with alarming momentum.
Sun Quan's face was livid and he was shaking with anger. He didn't expect Lu Fan to act so decisively and flooded his own troops.
Lu Su comforted him and said: "Cao Ren used this clumsy plan to defend Shouchun. My lord, I will return to Fei to rest first. After the flood recedes, it will not be difficult to take Shouchun again."
"This plan... is clumsy?" Sun Quan looked blankly at the gloomy sky, his voice hoarse.
Lu Su said: "Since all the tricks have been used to defeat the enemy, how can there be any reason to hurt oneself? Cao Ren made a mistake and trapped himself in the city. As long as Ziming takes Donghai County, he can send a large army from Guangling to the north to support, and Xuzhou can be captured .”
Sun Quan nodded silently, moved his horse ahead, and thought about where to mobilize his troops. The Soochow soldiers retreated to Hefei, cursing all the way.
Shouchun City was surrounded by floods. The water covered half of the city gate, like an isolated island, but Cao Jun cheered on the city waving weapons.
There was a mess outside the city. There was a layer of tents and clothes floating on the turbid water, and there were many corpses with hideous faces. Wu Jun was like dead fish in the pond, floating in countless pieces.
Niu Jin gritted his teeth and cursed: "Jiangdong boasts that it has a powerful naval force and that no one can defeat them in water battles. This flood has turned them into dead fish and revealed their true colors."
Cao Ren looked at the boundless floods, but sighed helplessly, shook his head and said: "This move will harm the peace of the world. After two floods, I am afraid that there will be no more people in Shouchun within a few years!"
Niu Jin said, "There is no need to feel pity, Governor. Those who died were all Wu troops. This time, all the elite troops from Jiangdong were sent out, and most of Shouchun was lost. This is comparable to Zhang Wenyuan's battle at Xiaoyaojin. In a few years, Sun Quan would no longer be able to go north."
Cao Ren's eyes were deep. He also defeated one hundred thousand Dongwu soldiers. He didn't even fight, but he felt that he was not worthy to be compared with Zhang Liao.
Jiang Ji said: "I hope the flood will recede early so that the governor can divide his troops to support Xuzhou in time and repel the Wu army, so that future troubles can be avoided forever."
Cao Ren pressed his hand on the city wall and sighed: "Zhou Yu has taken the two counties of Beihai and Donglai. He has sufficient money and food to buy people's hearts. He can compare with the princes on one side, and his troubles are even worse than that of Sun Quan."
Although Sun Quan retreated, another force sneaked into Xuzhou, Zhou Yu established a foothold in Qingzhou, and Xiahou Dun suffered several unfavorable battles. The overall situation was still not optimistic.
