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

Chapter 748 Everyone's racing against time

what?

You and Zhao Yan are actually spies sent by the puppet Han regime, and you're planning a full-scale attack on Xiling City.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden news, and they all looked at each other in disbelief.

They never dreamed that the Zhao brothers, who usually spent their days partying with them, were actually spies of the Han regime. This was unbelievable! You brothers are too audacious! Aren't you afraid of being caught and executed?

But that's not the point. The point now is whether or not to work with the Zhao brothers.

Everyone was caught in a dilemma. After struggling for a long time, a young man immediately raised his hand and declared, "Brother Peng, I'll do it with you. My ancestors were once the magistrates of Zhu County. I am a man of the Han Dynasty."

“I’ll stick with you too. Cao Wei’s Nine-Rank System excludes us poor scholars. I can’t tolerate this. I’m going back to the Han Dynasty to take the imperial examination.”

“I did it too, not for any other reason than that I’ve been a coward for most of my life and just wanted to let loose once. So tell us what we should do?”

Guan Yan and Peng Yu were selective in their recruitment of teammates; they didn't just recruit anyone. All those they chose were from humble backgrounds, and not a single one came from aristocratic families.

As a member of a poor family, he was naturally willing to submit to the pseudo-Han people who were more friendly to the poor, so he didn't hesitate.

Peng Yu immediately said, "Since that's the case, I won't waste any more words. Once this matter is settled, I will take you to see my teacher, His Highness the Crown Prince, and Marquis Shence."

"You don't need to fight now. Just use all your connections to prepare logs, stones, weapons, arrows, food, and all other supplies. Once you have them ready, send them to the North Gate immediately. We need to hold the North Gate until General Sun Lang arrives."

Simply raising supplies was not a difficult task, and everyone assured each other that there would be no problem.

After the assurance was given, someone asked, "Commander Peng, I understand holding out for reinforcements, but what if General Wenping returns to Xiling before General Sun Lang?"

Peng Yu spread his hands and said, "What else can we do? Of course we run! The city gate is in our hands, are we afraid we can't escape?"

Everyone thought it made sense; with the city gate in hand, what was there to be afraid of?

With their worries gone, everyone took their leave and returned home to mobilize everything they could to frantically gather supplies for the Han army. Peng Yu also left Xunhuan Pavilion to prepare for the second phase of the mission, raising the banner of the Great Han to openly recruit soldiers.

It was late afternoon, around 5 PM, and Xunhuan Pavilion had already opened for business. The girls were all dressed up in their finest attire and began to greet customers.

But today was different. Not only did they fail to attract any customers, but those who had already entered the room also left. The usual regulars went upstairs for a meeting and then left in groups. The girls waiting at the bottom of the stairs would immediately rush forward and throw themselves into their arms when they saw them come out. But these old scoundrels, who usually wanted to grope them, ruthlessly pushed them away today and walked firmly toward the door. Some even impatiently shouted, "Get out of here, don't delay my business."

The girls were completely dumbfounded by this scene. What are you all doing? What could be more attractive than us?

While the girls were still full of questions, Peng Yu came out and instructed, "Go back and rest. Xunhuan Pavilion is closed today and will not be accepting any customers."

Without explaining, he hurriedly went downstairs. The madam wanted to ask why he was closing the door, but he ruthlessly drove her away. Unwilling to give up, the madam stopped Peng Yu's subordinates to ask them. Upon learning Peng Yu's identity and what he was doing, her expression changed drastically, and she decisively closed the door.

Meanwhile, the newly recruited teammates did not linger after leaving Xunhuan Pavilion. Instead, they rushed back to their homes and rummaged through their belongings, sending Guan Yan everything they could find to eat or use. Some even dismantled their own doors to serve as military supplies.

Even those from poor families have connections; when relatives, friends, and neighbors learned the reason, they also chose to join.

Such investment opportunities are rare; you might miss this chance.

So while they were contributing money, they also contributed manpower. Those who were of suitable age and interested in joining the army were sent to the recruitment point set up by Peng Yu at the North Gate to apply for jobs, as instructed by their new teammates. This led to the Han army expanding at a visible speed.

Compared to the flourishing Han army, Wen Dai's side was shrouded in gloom.

The leader of the Huang family's private army stationed at the North Gate was Huang Mao, the grandson of Huang Zu. After being defeated by Guan Yan, he immediately rushed to the Prefect's Mansion to report to Wen Dai.

Meanwhile, the city officials and aristocratic heads who had been given laxatives were also discussing countermeasures in Wen Dai's bedroom.

Poor Wen Dai lay on the bed, his face pale and wrapped in bandages, looking at his colleague whose legs were also weak from the strain, feeling like crying but having no tears.

After looking at each other for a long time, Huang Maocai said, "General, what should we do now? You need to make a decision as soon as possible."

Wen Dai coughed a few times while clutching his wound and sighed, "There is only one way to deal with this now: concentrate all the soldiers to defend the south gate to the death, and at the same time send a message to my father, asking him to send troops back to reinforce us immediately."

"Summon all the private soldiers of the gentry outside the city to assemble at the South Gate, and seize the opportunity to retake the North Gate while ensuring that the South Gate is not lost."

"Besides, we should also prepare for the worst. If Father is unable to return in time and Xiling falls, we must find a way to take Xiling back. So we can't delay any longer. We must move all the grain and fodder stored in the city by the government and various ethnic groups out of the city as quickly as possible. Anything that can't be moved should be burned on the spot. We can't leave it for the Han army under any circumstances."

"Xiling City is the seat of Jiangxia County. It has been reinforced by my father many times and is so strong that it is difficult to break through from the outside. But no matter how strong the city is, it is useless without food. As long as we clear out the food in the city in advance, Sun Lang will have to leave obediently even if he enters the city."

The most crucial factor in whether a fortified city can be held is food. With ample food supplies, Xiling's defenses and Sun Lang's forces could hold out for one or two years without issue. However, without food, Sun Lang couldn't even last three days.

Although transporting the grain out of the city was troublesome, it was still much better than having it stolen by the Han army.

So without hesitation, everyone bowed and took their leave, returning home to begin transporting grain.

Wen Dai watched their retreating figures and murmured to himself, "Father, you must come back soon, or you'll lose your son in your old age."

After saying that, he thought of something and quickly ordered, "Order the soldiers in the camp to rush to the east gate to assemble. If anything goes wrong, they should immediately leave the city and hide. Under no circumstances should they be taken prisoner by the Han army."

The five thousand garrison troops inside the city are an important fighting force. Although they have temporarily lost their fighting ability due to taking laxatives, the effects of the medicine will eventually wear off, and their bodies will eventually recover. Once they recover, they will still be a strong and powerful force. On the contrary, if they are captured by the Han army and then subjected to the Han army's ideological work and reformation, they will immediately become a formidable opponent for the Wei army. Therefore, this garrison troops must be firmly held in our hands and cannot be lost under any circumstances.

However, this would leave the prefectural governor's residence empty, and if the Han army attacked it, Wen Dai, in his current weakened state, would have no chance of resisting.

Therefore, Wen Dai did not dare to stay at the prefect's residence for long. Instead, he ordered his men to carry him and his family to the military camp to join the soldiers.

Wen Dai's actions quickly reached Guan Yan in the north of the city, who was immediately caught in a dilemma.

For the long term, he naturally did not want the gentry to transport all the grain out of the city. After all, Sun Lang would also need to eat. If there was no grain, what would Sun Lang's 20,000 troops eat?

But he has too few troops now and no extra strength to stop the gentry from transporting grain. What should he do?