Two hours later, the Jiangdong army arrived at Wan City under the leadership of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.
The Yuan Clan generals stood atop the city walls, while the Jiangdong generals stood below.
The two sides came face-to-face.
Gan Ning asked, "My lord, should we attack the city?"
Sun Ce glanced at the more than twenty thousand wounded soldiers under his command and shook his head. "Let's go! Return to Jiangdong at once, reorganize the army, and fight again!"
Up on the walls, Jia Xu also stopped Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and the others from requesting battle.
Jia Xu said, "Our lord has already defeated Liu Bei and pacified the two regions of Yizhou. After returning to court, he will head south to Jiangnan before long and subdue the Sun Clan. Our task is simply to hold Hefei and prevent the Sun Clan from taking Huainan."
Cao Ren's face darkened. "Hefei is already gone."
Zhang Xiu said with some concern, "Although we repelled Sun Ce, we lost Hefei. I wonder whether this counts as completing our mission. Will Duke Yan hold us accountable?"
Jia Xu said, "...Oh, that does seem right. Forget it. Have General Qiao send a message to our lord and put in a few good words for us."
Based on the brief message carried by the Raven Messenger, Bai Xiaowen had already reconstructed the general course of the Battle of Hefei.
"There were three brilliant aspects to Jia Xu's plan."
Bai Xiaowen raised three fingers and spoke slowly:
"First, burning Hefei not only dealt a heavy blow to Sun Ce's army's morale, but also prevented Sun Ce from using Hefei's strong fortifications to hold Huainan. This decision had much in common with my decision to dismantle Jiameng Pass and Fushui Pass."
"Second, he arranged for