Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 543: Method to break the poison, obey the order!
"You don't need to worry about what it is. You just need to know that this thing is very terrifying. General Huang was defeated by this thing and died at its hands."

After hearing this, the two fell silent.

"So what should we do now? Go back to the front line?"

Xu Rong looked at Huang Zhong. He was definitely unwilling to go back like this.

Huang Zhong thought for a moment, looked around, and said in a deep voice: "Wenyuan, you go to support Zhijiang, and the two of us will go to support Huarong. There are three food routes, and we can defend two of them. I will tell the lord about this. If the lord blames me, I will take full responsibility. You don't have to worry. At the same time, I will ask the lord to find a way to solve the current problem."

"Old General, I don't like what you said. The three of us retreated together, and we lost the city together. How could it be your decision? If we have to die, we die together."

Zhang Liao smiled and led his Eighteen Riders of Yanyun towards Zhijiang.

Huang Zhong nodded to Xu Rong, and they rushed to Huarong together.

The three men left with the army. Zhou Yu, who was far away, naturally saw it and immediately found Miao Moqing.

"Chief, Huang Zhong and his men have already left. There is no need to continue. Tell your people to stop now."

Miao Moqing smiled and shook her head at Zhou Yu's words.

"I'm sorry, General Zhou. My lord said that my mission is to turn Dangyang into a dead city. My lord said that we don't have any extra troops. He Ming will guard such a county town in the future. Only turning it into a dead city is the safest way."

"Dead city? Why? There is no one guarding it. I can defend it. Just give me 10,000 soldiers."

When Zhou Yu heard what Miao Moqing said, he was naturally unwilling and wanted to stop her, but his lord's words left him completely helpless. By the time he arrived at the front camp and told Sun Jian the intelligence here, when he came back, this place would probably have become a dead city.

Seeing the screams of the people coming from Dangyang City, Zhou Yu closed his eyes helplessly, as if he could not hear anything if he could not see.

Soon, Gu Rubing received information from Dangyang.

Now that Captain Younu had left the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation, everything was up and running, and Gu Rubing's intelligence department was completely restored.

"Sun Jian, this beast, actually killed them all."

After learning about the situation in Dangyang City, Gu Rubing's face instantly turned pale. He did not expect that Sun Jian would become like this. How was this different from a massacre?

"My lord, it's too late to say anything now. General Huang's decision is flawless. If Liang were in that place, he would probably make the same decision as General Huang."

Zhuge Liang was worried that Gu Rubing would punish Huang Zhong for fleeing without fighting, so he hurriedly tried to exonerate Huang Zhong.

Gu Rubing also understood what Zhuge Liang meant. Although it was shameful to flee without fighting, he also had to figure out why.

In a situation like this, if Huang Zhong really defended mindlessly, he would have to blame Huang Zhong. Others didn't know, but could Huang Zhong not know what the opponent was like? Defending was just pitting his teammates.

"Huang Zhong's decision was right. This time, Huang Zhong can be said to have saved the lives of more than 10,000 soldiers. However, what we need to consider is how to solve this situation. Sun Jian obviously wants our three grain routes. This time, he only reached Dangyang. The next one may be one of Zhijiang or Huarong."

Sun Jian was poisoning the city and slaughtering the people. The most important thing was that the poison would not dissipate in a short time. With Huang Zhong around, Gu Rubing was not worried that the army would suffer any losses. But even if the army returned safely, what would be the use if the food supply route was blocked by the poison.

An army of 400,000 without food and fodder is like a decoration and cannot defend the city at all.

Zhuge Liang looked at the worried Gu Rubing, gave him a reassuring smile, and ordered the soldiers beside him: "Find Mr. Hua Tuo."

After the soldiers left, Gu Rubing looked at Zhuge Liang in confusion.

"Prime Minister, even if you call Hua Tuo, it will be useless. Even if Hua Tuo has a way to deal with the poisonous gas, we don't have enough medicinal materials to use for hundreds of thousands of troops."

The medicinal materials needed by this army of hundreds of thousands would take up so much space that even if they had to go up the mountains to collect them, they would have plucked out several mountains.

"Don't worry, my lord. I have my own way."

As soon as Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he saw Hua Tuo walking in from outside.

"My lord, Prime Minister."

Hua Tuo saluted the two men.

"Sir, take out the things I asked you to prepare."

Hua Tuo nodded, took out a gourd and placed it in front of Gu Rubing.

"My lord, after you came back, you told me about Jiangxia County. After I learned about it, I looked through ancient books and finally found a way to crack it. This method does not require too many herbs and can be done, but it requires some specific conditions."

Gu Rubing looked at Hua Tuo in surprise, and then opened Hua Tuo's gourd.

The pungent smell of medicinal herbs almost made Gu Rubing pass out.

After quickly closing the gourd, Gu Rubing looked at Hua Tuo curiously and asked, "What conditions are required?"

"My herbal medicine needs to be combined with a moat to be effective. However, from what I know, Dangyang has been lost, and Zhijiang and Huarong do not have moats."

"moat?"

"That's right, my lord. I have ground this herb into powder. Pour it into the moat and it will emit the scent of herbs all the time. Although it is still pungent, it will at least not interfere with the soldiers' combat and can effectively block the entry of poisonous gas. However, due to the limited quantity, it must be poured into the moat to play the greatest role."

Gu Rubing looked at the map. Dangyang had fallen. Huang Zhong and Xu Rong had already gone to Huarong, and Zhang Liao went to Zhijiang. Huarong was only half a day's journey away from Dangyang. It would definitely be too late to start digging a moat now, but it would take two days to get from Dangyang to Zhijiang.

As long as someone can stop them and give Ma Chao and Zhang Liao five days, they will definitely be able to dig a moat.

According to the distance, after Zhou Yu and his men resolved Dangyang, they would definitely go to Huarong, so Huang Zhong and his men had to stay in Huarong for four days to leave enough time for Ma Chao.

After Huang Zhong received Gu Rubing's order, he immediately felt a little troubled. He had to defend Huarong for four days. If the other party made that kind of weird thing, he might not be able to hold on for even one day, let alone four days.

The dead soldiers suddenly stood up and swung their swords at their companions. This was not a problem of combat effectiveness, but the ordinary soldiers could not bear such a blow psychologically.

Seeing Huang Zhong in trouble, Zhang He also heard about the situation in Dangyang. He had not seen it, but he believed that Huang Zhong and Xu Rong were not afraid of fighting. Since they chose to retreat, it meant that the opponent's terror was definitely beyond their ability to resist.

"General Huang, no matter what, since the Lord has issued the order, we cannot retreat before the time is up. Let's think about what we should do if we encounter such a situation."

Huang Zhong was somewhat helpless about Zhang He's words. If he had a way, he would not have given up Dangyang just like that.

Just as Huang Zhong was thinking, Xu Rong suddenly thought of something.

"Since the other party can control the corpse, what if we burn it?"

"Burned?"

Huang Zhong heard this and looked at Xu Rong.

Burning corpses was not unfamiliar to them, but they would only do so after the war was completely over. Before that, they would just dig a hole and bury the corpses.

"Yes, if we burn the bodies, the other side will have no bodies to use, but it will consume a lot of kerosene. In this case, it will be very difficult for us to defend the city. Everyone, be prepared."

The two nodded.

Within a day, there were no more screams in Dangyang City.

Zhou Yu looked at Dangyang City, a trace of pity flashed in his eyes. "Patriarch, that's enough, there is no sound in Dangyang City anymore, no one should be alive, right?"

Miao Moqing nodded and said directly: "Next, Huarong."

"besides?"

Zhou Yu did not expect that Sun Jian actually wanted to turn all three cities into dead cities.

This means that hundreds of thousands of people will die this time.

This was something Zhou Yu could not accept no matter what.

"Chief, if I'm not mistaken, the Lord means that if we can't capture Huarong, the Chief will take action, right?"

"That's right, but General Zhou, you just didn't take it down!"

Miao Moqing nodded, with disdain in her eyes when she spoke to Zhou Yu.

"Who said we can't take it? Give us two days. If we can't do it, it won't be too late for you, the clan leader, to take action."

"No problem, as long as General Zhou doesn't interfere with our mission."

To control corpses, one must have corpses. After two days of fighting between the two sides, there will be at least tens of thousands of corpses. For Miao Moqing, this has only benefits and no disadvantages.

Cao Ren was also extremely dissatisfied with Miao Moqing's methods. He did not want to see such a method of massacring the city.

When Cao Ren heard Zhou Yu's words, he knew what Zhou Yu wanted to do and nodded at him.

In half a day, Zhou Yu arrived at Huarong with an army of 60,000 and joined Xiahou Yuan.

After learning that Huang Zhong and others had arrived at Huarong and brought nearly 20,000 reinforcements, Xiahou Yuan ordered the camp to retreat 50 miles.

When Zhou Yu and his men arrived, they all understood why they saw that the camp was so far away from Huarong.

After getting a brief understanding of the situation, Zhou Yu made adjustments to the siege.

Xiahou Yuan attacked the west gate of Huarong, Cao Ren attacked the north gate, and Zhou Yu and Gan Ning attacked the east gate.

Miao Moqing stayed in the camp and made final preparations.

With this arrangement, only the South Gate was left.

"What about the South City Gate? Who's going there?"

Gan Ning originally thought that Zhou Yu would arrange for him to attack the South Gate, but he did not expect that Zhou Yu actually avoided the South Gate.

Upon hearing Gan Ning's words, Zhou Yu glared at Gan Ning.

How could Zhou Yu, a famous general, not know that he did not arrange any men to go to the South Gate because he wanted to make Huang Zhong and the others give up. With a way out, the other side would naturally not fight him to the death.

Zhou Yu did this not to save the lives of Huang Zhong and others. He just didn't want to give Miao Moqing an excuse to take action. As long as Miao Moqing didn't take action, he would have a way to save the lives of the people in Huarong City.

"Your Grand Commander just wants Huang Zhong and the others to leave. After all, we can't waste too much time here, which will delay the situation on the front battlefield."

Cao Ren naturally understood Zhou Yu's thoughts and could only smooth things over for Zhou Yu.

Gan Ning nodded and said nothing.

"Okay, take a day off, and attack the city tomorrow morning."

Huang Zhong had extremely good eyesight, and he could see Cao's camp by standing on the city wall.

Looking at the rising smoke, Huang Zhong judged that there were at least 100,000 troops in Cao's camp this time.

Huang Zhong hesitated for a moment and took out a brocade bag.

This was what Zhuge Liang asked the Captain of the Wandering Crossbows to bring when he was conveying Gu Rubing's order.

According to Captain Younu, if Zhou Yu and his men arrived, they would open the brocade bag and act according to the instructions on it.

Huang Zhong opened the brocade bag and looked at the layout on it. He couldn't help but sigh that Prime Minister Zhuge was truly a god!
It didn't take long for Huang Zhong to arrive at Huarong Prefecture Yamen.

"Junyi, you lead the White Feather Light Cavalry and 10,000 cavalry to raid Zhou Yu's camp. Remember to attack by surprise."

"it is good."

Zhang He nodded and led his troops out of the city.

Just after Zhang He left, Huang Zhong, Xu Rong and 20,000 troops ambushed on the road Zhang He had to take to return to the city.

This place is very close to Zhou Yu’s camp, almost at the entrance of the camp.

Soon Zhang He, with 10,000 cavalry and the Baiyu light cavalry, arrived at the gate of Zhou Yu's camp.

Just as the soldiers guarding the gate reacted, Zhang He threw the torch in his hand into Zhou Yu's camp.

Immediately afterwards, the Baiyu Light Cavalry fired countless rockets into the camp.

For a moment, there were fires everywhere in Zhou Yu's camp.

When everyone was putting out the fire, Zhang He, holding the Five Tigers Soul-Breaking Spear, led everyone and rushed directly into the camp.

Zhou Yu and his men were caught off guard and suffered countless casualties.

But Zhou Yu, who reacted first, immediately organized people to block Zhang He's attack and fought with Zhang He personally.

Although both are famous generals, a Confucian general like Zhou Yu is definitely inferior to Zhang He.

After forty rounds, Zhou Yu was already showing signs of defeat.

Just when Zhang He was fighting hard, a voice came from the side.

"Zhang He, you dared to burn my camp, you are seeking death!"

Gan Ning rushed to Zhang He holding an ancient ingot knife and blocked the attack of the Five Tiger Soul-Breaking Spear.

Seeing Gan Ning coming, Zhang He originally wanted to take action, but seeing that Cao's army had already reacted, he knew that if he continued to fight, his side would surely suffer heavy losses, and it would even be a question whether these more than a hundred people could still be alive. Huang Zhong had said that if he wanted to launch a surprise attack and there were too many casualties, he would have a hard time explaining himself when he returned.

"Let's stop here today. If there's a chance, I'd like to learn your sword skills."

After saying this, Zhang He turned and ran.

"Come as you like, leave as you like, what do you think we are talking about?"

(End of this chapter)