"Tell Generals Fan and Wei in Xiao County not to fret over holding or losing cities. Resist at every step, and if they truly cannot hold, withdraw when they must. If the troops cannot withdraw, they may surrender. I will answer for it when the time comes. The rebels have already lost today. There is no need to fuss over gaining or losing a city or a patch of ground... I will hold down Xiong Bonan here and make certain he cannot leave the central camp. The rest of the army will attack from three sides, taking their camps and advancing inward. If we can take this camp, let us see whether Zhang Xing has so much as half a foothold left!"
Sima Zheng sternly issued his orders to the reinforcing troops. Then, golden halberd in hand, he rose like a soaring dragon and plunged straight toward the enemy camp.
The commanders of the main force that had just arrived from Pengcheng exchanged glances. They had no idea where Sima Zheng found such confidence, nor how he could answer even for troops surrendering. But that did not matter. The situation before them was clear enough: Sima Zheng would personally pin down Xiong Bonan, and the rest would pile in together. Besieging the enemy camp that way could hardly go wrong.
Thus, scarcely a moment after Sima Zheng left, the ten thousand reinforcements from Pengcheng went into battle under a First Guard general's command, led by three Langjiang. The troops from Liu County had already joined the fighting before this, but their previous numerical inferiority had left them with little to show for it.
There was, of course, a practical problem: the sun was scorching, and after a morning's march, the troops were decidedly listless.
Under such circumstances, how long the