Lü Ju, the Wu Kingdom's General of Agile Cavalry, began attacking Tuogao, while Liu Zan made a show of preparing to storm Shouchun.
Sun Jun led his own troops to set ambushes in the surrounding area.
Wu had originally intended to spring a small ambush. Unfortunately, Guanqiu Jian had anticipated their attack long beforehand, and events did not unfold as Sun Jun had imagined.
Liu Zan, who was feigning an attack on Shouchun, ran into Guanqiu Jian's main army.
This left Liu Zan particularly alarmed. Guanqiu Jian could not possibly have mobilized so quickly. Encountering his main army could only mean that he had already made preparations!
Liu Zan hurriedly sent someone to inform Sun Jun and tell him to withdraw the army.
He himself took the initiative to avoid the enemy's sharp edge, drawing Guanqiu Jian's main force around the front lines to buy those behind him a chance to retreat.
At that moment, Sun Jun encountered the reinforcements under the General Who Guards the East at Dongting.
Sun Jun's ambush had been intended to swallow up a few thousand reinforcements, but when those reinforcements grew from a few thousand to tens of thousands, something was clearly wrong.
Wen Qin's vanguard general, Jiang Ban, fought a fierce battle against Sun Jun. Jiang Ban's valor was hard to withstand, and the armored soldiers under him all fought to the death. Unable to match him, Sun Jun withdrew.
Fortunately, he had enough troops under his command to avoid a rout.
But Sun Jun's retreat severed communications between the three armies.
Lü Ju was the first to react. He abandoned the siege, and his entire army set out to protect Sun Jun.
Liu Zan was left isolated. Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian had been friends for many years, and their coordination had