The sound of heavy rain battered the roof of the main command tent of the joint Wei and Shu-Han forces. The storm, which had been raging since afternoon, had turned the plains around the walls of Xuzhou into a disgusting sea of mud. The air inside the tent felt damp and stuffy, filled with the tension of leaders who were running out of ideas. Cao Mengde slammed his fist onto the wooden table in front of him with tremendous force. An empty wine cup toppled over and fell onto the carpet. "Our trebuchet stones just sink into the mud!" Cao Cao growled, his dark eyes sweeping over all the generals and advisors present. "The ground out there is too soft to support the footing of our giant siege engines. Our climbing ladders slip. And Lu Bu still has fifteen thousand surviving Wolf Cavalry sheltering behind those walls. We cannot just sit here waiting for the storm to pass!" Liu Bei, sitting across the table, looked equally fru

That night, the raging storm over Xuzhou refused to subside. Lightning flashes continued to strike, illuminating the upstream currents of the Yi and Si Rivers, which were churning wildly like enraged water dragons.On the muddy riverbanks, thousands of Wei soldiers shouted in panic. The barbaric tactic ordered by Cheng Yu had led to disaster. Dozens of soldiers, who had been commanded to pile sandbags and wooden logs into the middle of the river, were instead swept away by the fierce torrents. Death screams echoed back and forth as armored bodies sank, swallowed by the vicious brown whirlpools.Cao Mengde stood on a mound of earth safe from the rushing water. His maroon robe was completely drenched. The tyrant ground his teeth furiously."Fools!" Cao Cao roared, swatting away the report from a soaked captain. "I deployed a hundred thousand soldiers not to watch them drown before they even touch the enemy! Cheng Yu! If you cannot divert this river before dawn, I will throw you into tha

Heavy, ashen clouds hung oppressively low over Xuzhou city. The sky looked like a filthy rag, soaking up every last drop of hope from the land. The foul stench of flood mud and rotting horse carcasses outside the walls seeped through the cracks of the palace. The air was damp, bone-chilling, and suffocating to anyone who dared to breathe it in. Inside the grand main hall of the governor's palace, the glory of the past had vanished without a trace. The normally polished marble floor was now coated in dried mud tracks and sticky stains. Lu Bu sat sprawled on the freezing floor. The man who had borne the title of the strongest God of War across the Chinese plains no longer sat upon his throne. His giant frame slumped weakly against a teakwood pillar. His proud golden armor lay discarded in the corner of the room. The precious metal was dented, filthy, and stained with dried blood that had turned a sickly black. Dozens of cl

The sound of the floodwaters inundating the streets of Xuzhou city echoed against the outer walls of the palace with a monotonous, sickening rhythm. The stench of rotting mud seeped through the cracks of the tightly shut wooden windows. Inside the spacious, dimly lit private chambers of the governor, the remnants of the God of War's glory had truly rotted away, swallowed by absolute despair.Lu Bu sat slumped on the cold marble floor. The giant was not wearing his proud golden armor. He only wore a white silk robe that was now stained with fresh blood and spilled rice wine. The gaping wound on his right waist throbbed painfully every time he drew a breath. However, the physical pain was nothing compared to the mental devastation gnawing at his sanity.In his left hand, Lu Bu gripped a short, dragon-carved sword. The steel blade was honed to a razor's edge, reflecting the dim light from the single candle burning in the corner of the room.The God of War's eyes stared blankly at the bla

A few hours before the floodwaters reached their peak and sank Xuzhou into a city of death. On a hill safe from the reach of the mud, Cao Mengde's main command tent stood very firmly. The rainstorm battered the roof of the thick silk tent with a thundering sound, as if Heaven were spewing all its wrath onto the Chinese mainland. However, inside the spacious room, the atmosphere felt incredibly silent and warm from the charcoal fireplace. The silence did not stem from peace, but from high-level intellectual tension ready to choke the neck of anyone who dared breathe too loudly. A giant leather map depicting the entire Chinese mainland was spread across the teak wood table. Around that table stood the four main pillars of the Wei faction. The four most brilliant, most cunning, and deadliest brains ever born in this era. Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Jia Xu. In their midst, Cao Mengde sat with a very r