Pang Tong's Defecting

A few weeks passed after the shadow attacked Yun, and he was still feeling weak from the experience he had gone through as he saw a bird in the distance flying toward Wulin.

It was Shadow, who brought Yun the news of Huang Xu arriving with Fang's corpse and some news regarding the north of the Xu Province being in uproar because of Zang Ba.

Lu Bu has marched out to quell this uproar successfully for now as Zang Ba retreated not wanting to deal with Lu Bu.

Yun was pleased with the news as he began to write a letter to Zhen Luo to inform Huang Xu to join Sun Quan as fast as possible since Jianye and Guangling aren't that far from each other.

Before letting Shadow go Yun petted her in her favorite spot seeing the eagle spread her wings wanting to hug Yun since she was feeling the pain he was carrying as they are connected by blood.

Yun sighed seeing Shadow do that as it reminded him of his loss once again when he says, "I should have known that you would want to cheer me up. Thunder did the same."

Yun embraced the Black Eagle before letting it go so it could take the letter back to Guangling as fast as possible. Yun on the other hand returned to his duty which was to keep his people safe from the famine that stroke Cao Cao's camp as he predicted before.

Cao Cao was using Cai Mao and his experience in naval battles for skirmishes against Sun Quan and his army which is led by Zhou Yu on the Yangtze River.

Cai Mao was being pushed back and Cao Cao wasn't happy about it which placed Cai Mao in an awkward spot since he was the newcomer in Cao Cao's army.

The battle was at a standstill at the moment with everyone gathering their strength on each bank of the river awaiting the great battle which would decide the victor of this war.

Many eyes were lying on Yun and his camp and Yun used this to begin an argument with Pang Tong which looked like a conflict between both as Pang Tong accused Yun for not leading his army correctly because he was still mourning his son.

This didn't sit well with the generals and soldiers who weren't aware of what was really going on behind the scenes making Hua take Pang Tong away before someone came to the wrong ideas and attacked him for saying that to Yun.

But said scene reached Cao Cao's ears as well as Zhou Yu's who was now planning with Pang Tong maybe betray Yun while Gan Ning, Zhuge Liang, and others told Zhou Yu that Pang Tong would never betray Yun.

Zheng was the most hurt as he had to keep his rage and anger inside while working together with the murder of his brother at the moment.

The only relief he had in this situation was Sun Ren who was beside him the whole time even when Sun Quan ordered her to stay in Jianye instead of marching to war with the army.

Yun, on the other hand, was playing the victim after the argument with Pang Tong to show the split between both as they didn't even talk with each other's anymore in public while Hua interchanged messages between both of them in secret.

Then the skirmish that Yun was waiting for happened and Cai Mao won over Huang Gai. The famine was spreading through Cao Cao's camp seemed forgotten by Cao Cao thanks to this small victory while his men were dwindling away slowly.

This was becoming a problem and Xiahou Yuan as well as Cao Ren went up to Cao Cao who didn't want to hear anything of it as his main focus was stomping Sun Quan's army which was opposing him.

Yue Jin was silently disapproving of Cao Cao's action in ignoring the needs of his men at the moment but he saw that Cao Cao was now blinded by victory because of the last skirmish and didn't say anything since he was only the blade of his Lord and nothing more.

"So what is the plan?" asks Huang Zhong curiously as he saw through the charade.

"Can't tell you that yet but you will love it," says Yun with a smirk on his face which put Huang Zhong at ease.

"What about my son?" asks Huang Zhong a bit worried since he could be in danger if he returned and the war was over.

"I send word back to Guangling telling them to send Huang Xu to Jianye. I don't want him to put himself in unnecessary danger by marching here when the battle will be over when he is halfway here," says Yun as he could feel the cold wind hit his face.

"The winter has already arrived," says Yun which surprised him a bit.

They waited for some days and Cao Cao finally summoned Yun to a strategic meeting as he obtained new information from the enemy camp.

Yun was sitting beside Cao Ren at the moment who was sitting to his right holding his head feeling sick when he felt Yun's hand on his shoulder and the sickness went away.

"Thank you, Yun," says Cao Ren calling Yun by his name instead of his title since the meeting hadn't started yet.

"Don't sweat it, Ren," says Yun looking around and seeing a lot of people giving him an evil stare.

"Don't mind them, they are looking at you like that because your son is fighting on the other side of the battlefield," says Xiahou Yuan sitting down on the other side of Yun knowing full-well that in those turmoiled times the family joined another fraction as well to let the family name survive.

Yun didn't feel uncomfortable with their stares as he was already used to them. He waited for the assembly to begin and Cao Cao to tell them why they were there.

"I have great news for us," says Cao Cao as he enters the assembly followed by Xu Chu, Xun Yu, Xun You, and Pang Tong.

Seeing Pang Tong beside Cao Cao surprised many since Pang Tong was Yun's strategist, not Cao Cao's. But they could see a black expression on Yun's face which turned the air around him cold.

This confirmed to many that Pang Tong betrayed Yun while they were playing an act at the moment. Pang Tong was also playing his part holding his nose up when he saw Yun with an evil smile on his face.

"What are the great news?" asks Yun coldly playing his part well.

"Thanks to Cai Mao's victory against Huang Gai, he was punished severely. He was punished so much that he wants to walk over to our side in the coming battle," says Cao Cao which made the assembly whisper among the people when Cao Cao added another thing, "And we found a way to finally fight on water against Sun Quan's navy."

"Which is?" asks Cai Mao confused since he is the Naval General at the moment.

"Pang Tong would you show us your strategy," says Cao Cao happy to have snatched someone talented from Yun.

"Of course," says Pang Tong as he lays down small wooden blocks on the map before everyone representing Cao Cao's navy.

"The main problem of our army is that we don't have a naval force since we are people of the north were there are no deep waters but plains as the eye can see," says Pang Tong as he places other wooden blocks on the opposite side of Cao Cao's blocks representing the enemy force.

"While the enemy was born and raise in the south they know how to swim and navigate through those waters easily. So we need to take our advantage and place it on the river which is our experience fighting using our infantry and cavalry," says Pang Tong as everyone was confused with what Pang Tong was saying when Pang Tong took a string and connected the wooden blocks of Cao Cao's together.

"We must created a platform on which our army can fight on and by connecting our ships together with chains will make us stable and we will be able to created and use such platforms to fight on them as if we were on land," says Pang Tong revealing his secret strategy when Yun stood up angrily.

"Are you trying to kill us all!" shouts Yun angrily playing his part as his shout made everyone feel shivers run down their spines except for Cao Cao who only smiled at Yun's play.

"We will be using Pang Tong's strategy, General Zhao. And you will be our main protagonist as you will be at the forefront right in the middle of the formation," says Cao Cao coldly since he could eliminate most of Yun's men by placing in the front again.

"So we are firming our suicide with this strategy! Fine by me! I have nothing else to lose! But remember this, Cao Cao! If we lose it is all on you!" shouts Yun leaving the assembly furiously storming out of it while hiding an evil smirk under his facade.

He returned to his camp and informed everyone about what happened in the assembly before he says, "Everyone, I want you to get as much dry wood as secretly as possible and place them on the ships we will be on while chaining the ships together."

Everyone looked at Yun confused because dry wood was like a death sentence for them because when a fire breaks out it would help it spread while Yun was thinking, 'If Cao Cao wants a show I will give him one he will never forget.'