The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 444: After one wave, another wave arises

Zhu Yi is only nineteen years old this year. Although he is young, he is the heir of the Zhu family, the head of the four major families in Wu County, and a historical figure who held the official position of Grand Commander. He must have the ability.

Zhu Yi was also invited by Gu Yong tonight, but he did not attend the banquet. After discussing it with his uncle Zhu Ju, he felt that there was no good banquet to be had. Gu Yong must have ill intentions to invite everyone when Eastern Wu was in turmoil. Therefore, it was enough for one person from the Zhu family to go. There was no need for the whole family to go and be wiped out.

With this in mind, Zhu Ju left his nephew behind and went to the banquet alone. Before leaving, he handed over all three hundred of his personal guards to Zhu Yi for command and instructed Zhu Yi to be on high alert tonight and to make plans as soon as possible if he did not return.

So after sending Zhu Ju away, Zhu Yi sent out a large number of spies to lie in wait around the Gu residence to observe the situation. As a result, just as Sun Quan led his army to the Gu residence, Zhu Yi received the news.

Inside the Zhu residence.

Zhu Yi did not rest tonight, but instead played chess with his good friend Zhang Yan, who was from the Zhang family of Wu County, one of the four great families of Wu County.

But neither of them was focused on the chessboard; they were so engrossed in their hands that they didn't even notice their hands reaching out onto each other's boards.

Zhu Yi stared at the chessboard in thought for a long time. Just as he was about to place a chess piece, the door was suddenly pushed open violently, and a young man rushed in and said, "Young master, something bad has happened! I just saw the lord leading thousands of armored soldiers to march towards the Gu residence. Those soldiers all looked murderous and like they were about to kill someone."

Zhu Yi's fingers trembled, and the chess piece fell and hit the chessboard with a series of crisp sounds.

The noise startled Zhang Yan out of his reverie. He shook his head violently to clear his mind before saying, "It seems the worst has happened. Gu Yong gathered everyone to betray our lord, but our lord discovered it beforehand."

The idea of ​​betraying Sun Quan didn't just arise now; it had already sprouted when Guan Yu launched his surprise attack on Jianye. However, at that time, everyone only dared to think about it in their hearts, and no one dared to reveal it in the slightest.

But when news of Han Dang and Xu Sheng's deaths in battle reached the country, thoughts of betrayal grew wildly like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Amidst the undercurrents, everyone knew that someone would rebel, but no one knew who would be the first to step forward and raise the flag of rebellion.

Now we know that Gu Yong jumped out, but he was suppressed by Sun Quan before he could even start.

Zhu Yi said, "It seems that my uncle and your uncle are both in grave danger, and it's our turn next."

Zhang Yan's uncle was Zhang Bai, who was attending Gu Yong's banquet with Zhu Ju at the moment. Upon hearing this, a ruthless glint flashed in Zhang Yan's eyes, and he said with a murderous look on his face, "Strike first and you'll be strong; strike later and you'll suffer. Since our lord is unrighteous, don't blame us for being unjust. The thousand or so personal guards we have are enough."

Like Zhu Ju, Zhang Bai also handed over his three hundred personal guards to his nephew Zhang Yan to temporarily lead before attending the banquet. Together with Zhang Yan's own two hundred personal guards, they had a total of five hundred men. Adding Zhu Yi's five hundred personal guards and Zhu Ju's three hundred, the two of them now had thirteen hundred soldiers at their disposal. All of them were personal guards and troops raised by the aristocratic families for many years, and their combat strength was extremely formidable.

Zhu Yi said, "Then let's proceed according to the original plan. I will go and intercept the personal guards. You will immediately take my letter and head to the North Gate. After you join forces with my uncle to seize the North Gate, lead the army to loot as much as possible and transport all the grain and fodder you can to the North Gate for storage. We will hold the gate and wait for the Wei army. If we really can't wait, we will abandon the gate and head north to surrender to Wei."

The Jiangdong gentry knew Sun Quan's character all too well. Since they had chosen to take action, they certainly wouldn't let the two who had slipped through the net go. Rather than hoping for Sun Quan's magnanimity, they would rather take the initiative and fight for a chance to survive, since no one wanted to entrust their life to someone else.

Moreover, the captain guarding the north gate was a member of the Zhu clan, and he had previously communicated with Zhu Ju and his nephew Zhu Yi, so that they could take over the city gate as soon as Zhang Yan arrived.

The two overturned the chessboard and quickly got up, rushing to the training ground to meet up with their personal guards and begin their operation. Since they knew that something might happen tonight, Zhu Yi and Zhang Yan naturally couldn't let their personal guards go back to rest, and they all waited at the training ground.

Upon arriving at the training ground, Zhu Yi gave a brief pre-battle pep talk. He then led his 800 personal guards, allied with Zhu Ju, out of the mansion. Under the cover of night, they marched into the streets and stormed into the houses, knocking out or killing the residents. They then dispersed their troops to rush into the rooms or climb onto the rooftops to wait for Sun Quan's army.

This was the only way from the Gu residence to the Zhu residence. If Sun Quan really sent troops to arrest him, they would definitely pass through here. So after arranging the defenses, Zhu Yi immediately climbed onto the roof and waited patiently.

After waiting for just over a quarter of an hour, the sound of orderly footsteps reached his ears. Zhu Yi's expression changed slightly as he looked closely and found that more than a thousand armored soldiers were rushing towards them. He knew without a doubt that they were the Ruxukou garrison brought back by Zhou Cheng, since Sun Quan only had this one mobile force at the moment.

Zhu Yi held his breath and waited patiently. Soon, more than a thousand Wu soldiers rushed into the street. Zhu Yi did not rush to give the order, but waited until they had completely entered the street and were about to pass through before shouting at the top of his lungs, "Attack!"

At Zhu Yi's command, the personal guards on the rooftops, who had already drawn their bows, decisively released their grip, and a barrage of arrows rained down on Zhou Cheng's army, which was trying to capture Zhu Yi.

Zhou Cheng was stunned by the attack and hurriedly shouted, "Enemy attack! Counterattack! Counterattack!"

Wu Jun also had bows and arrows, and upon hearing this, he immediately raised his bow and shot at the rooftop. However, since they were shooting high in the sky, they had lost the initiative and were no match for Zhu Yi.

While directing the battle, Zhu Yi shouted loudly, "I am Zhu Yi, son of General Zhu Huan. Anyone who wishes to join my Zhu family will be rewarded with a thousand gold pieces. I, Zhu Yi, swear in the name of the ancestors of the Zhu family of Wu County that I will keep my word and never renege on my promise."

If it were anyone else, Zhu Yi's promises at this time would definitely be useless, but don't forget that these people are all the garrison troops of Ruxukou. His father, Zhu Huan, had previously served under Zhou Tai at Ruxukou, which means that these soldiers were also his father Zhu Huan's subordinates. With this relationship, Zhu Yi's promises are very effective.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, some soldiers were tempted, their movements became slower and slower, and they started to shirk their duties.

Zhu Yi's personal guards, however, had no such concerns. After the arrows had passed, the guards who had been hiding inside the house decisively charged out and engaged in battle with the Wu army led by Zhou Cheng.

Zhou Cheng only brought a little over a thousand men, which was already at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength. He was ambushed and lost the initiative. Furthermore, Zhu Yi's promises shook the morale of his troops. He was no match for Zhu Yi. Within half a quarter of an hour of fighting, some of his soldiers surrendered. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhou Cheng decisively fought his way through the streets and fled.

Zhu Yi quickly cleaned up the battlefield and counted the number of people. He roughly calculated that there were more than 300 people who had surrendered from Zhou Cheng's side. It was as if he not only did not lose money, but also gained more than 300 people.

There's no way around it; that's the appeal of the Zhu family of Wu County as the head of the four great families.

Zhu Yi dared not delay. After quickly cleaning up the battlefield, he led the surrendered soldiers and carried the wounded towards the north gate.

At the same time, Fei Yi also rushed to the prison to pick up Wang Hong, the former Sima of Nanjun, who was being held there.

Although Wang Hong was imprisoned, Sun Quan did not torture him or treat him poorly in terms of food. Therefore, Wang Hong was in good spirits. However, he was still in shock from Guan Yu's surprise attack on Jianye and Sun Quan's forced surrender to Liu Bei, and he was in a daze as if he had lost his soul.

Criminals have no human rights, and no one informs them of the situation while they are in prison, so they are completely unaware of the current situation. It would be strange if they were not shocked to hear this from Fei Yi.

After leaving the prison and walking through several streets, Wang Hongcai gradually recovered from his shock and said incredulously, "They just left Maicheng and then launched a counterattack on Jianye. General Guan is too fierce! And the young general easily annihilated Lu Xun's 50,000 troops. This is too amazing. Am I dreaming? General Fei, slap me again so I can be sure I'm not dreaming."

Fei Yi put his arm around his shoulder and laughed, "Alright, alright, I promise you..."

As he spoke, he caught a glimpse of a dark figure out of the corner of his eye. He quickly stopped talking and looked up. Then his heart sank and his arm suddenly stiffened.

They saw a dozen strangers standing on the street in front of them, holding weapons and glaring at them menacingly.

Fei Yi instinctively wanted to backtrack, but as soon as he turned around, more than a dozen dark figures darted out from the corner they had just passed and blocked their way. They were surrounded.

Fei Yi's heart sank to the bottom, and he cursed inwardly, "Damn it, which bastard is playing dirty tricks on me?"