Liu Bei POV
“Alright.” I was still worried even though Yuan Zhi was not but still nodded, “As expected, the enemy withdraws when our troops charge in.”
“Eh? Really?” I said as I took a closer look, “… Ah, it’s true!”
The enemy troops continued to retreat and make space for Feng Xian every time she advanced. What was going on?
“This is the 8 Doors Golden Lock formation. Once you are drawn in, you are done for.”
“Eh?!” I exclaimed frantically, “Then that’s…”
“It’s fine. Like I said,” Yuan Zhi shook her head and interrupted me, “As long as they follow my instructions, there will be no problem. I don’t think there will be any issue with this judging by how the soldiers reacted just now.”
— When you charge in, do not get engrossed in battle. Do your best to keep your troops together and just keep moving forward and charging ahead in a straight line.
These were the only instructions given to Feng Xian and Wen Yuan. But I cannot see how this will work for now.
“Officers, are your troops ready?” Yuan Zhi yelled to the 1,000-man generals at the back.
“Anytime!”
Yuan Zhi then looked at me and tried to say something but remembered something and closed her mouth before speaking to me again, “I’ll give the order. I almost forgot you were supposed to be dead.”
“Ah… Hahaha…” I gave several dry laughs. This is not really funny to be honest…
“I’ll leave it to you then.” I said and Yuan Zhi nodded.
… Un? I thought that she would do the same thing as Feng xian did and raise her hand and yell before charging out but what she did instead was to take out a gourd and take a drink from it.
Ah~ Sugar water huh? She’s probably indulging in a similar habit as Huang Zu is, but with sugar water instead of liquor.
Eh? When I took a closer look, I found that it was Huang Zu’s gourd that was of the smaller, more portable size and not Yuan Zhi’s usual gourd that was too big to be carried on oneself.
“You borrowed that from Huang Zu?”
“Haa~ … Un.” Yuan Zhi gave a long sigh after she finished taking a long draught and nodded. I do not know if this is my misconception but her face seems to be redder than before and has a different aura about her than usual.
“Umm, Yuan Zhi?”
“Here.” She said as she tossed her gourd over to me when I called out to her and raised her sword which she pointed to the heavens, “Soldiers! Follow me to break the surround now!”
“Oh!!!”
The way Yuan Zhi yelled was very unlike how she usually spoke. There did not seem to be any hint of intellect in her yell and it seemed ferocious.
“O-Oh!” I yelled back a little slower than everyone else and spilled some of the gourd’s contents while rushing to respond.
Ah, it would be terrible if I spilt sugar water all over, I thought, but then caught a whiff of a alcohol.
Eh? Why is it… Ah! This is not sugar water! It’s liquor! Yuan Zhi, you… drank liquor?!
I wanted to ask her why but when I looked ahead, I saw that she was galloping ahead at full speed as though she were trying to catch up to Feng Xian and we were only 30-40 paces away from the enemy formation.
Eh! Who cares! Be it drinking liquor or venting out frustrations, I have long gotten past peoples’ pre-battle rituals. It’s understandable for people to feel differently from normal before battles after all.
“Jia!” I yelled as swung my reins down harder and galloped ahead. I then drew my sword and pointed it ahead. I wanted very much to yell something out but did not know what to say. This seems to be the first time that I am leading a charge into an enemy formation.
“C-Charge!!”
“Oh!!”
In the end, I just used the simplest of messages. It seems like my troops will cheer and yell no matter what I yell anyway. In fact, I think that they will do so even if I just yell some garbled, unintelligible message.
*tata*– *Ding* *Ding* *Ding*!
While thinking about these irrelevant things, the sound of blades clashing filled my ears and the yells from my troops at the back could be heard.
“Yaa! Haa! Die!”
I must say I have gotten used to hearing such yells all around me to the point where I no longer feel irritated, frustrated or afraid any longer.
“Yaa!”
And soon, I too contributed to the noise as I swung my blade about. My voice was not too loud but I could hear it easily. By the way, I am not really noticing too much where I am swinging at and how I am swinging, only making sure that I was attacking enemy troops and not my own. Zi Long taught me that I should not be concentrating on any one area too much in battles unless I am in a 1-on-1 duel and should just reply on my peripheral vision and spread out my attention.
Of course, part of the reason for this is also to make sure that I have Yuan Zhi in my field of vision at all times so I can keep up. She was currently at the head of the charge and it was really difficult to catch up to her.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled over to her but my voice was covered by the surrounding din as she continued to charge ahead without turning back.
“Lord Shamoke! Some troops at the back have begun to fall behind!”
“Eh?” I turned around in shock when I heard what the soldier from behind me said and found that our troops were beginning to get more and more scattered. If this went on then we would not even be able to advance further than 100 paces before our army would be complete scattered.
Wu… As expected of the 8 Doors Golden Lock formation huh?
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled out to her once more but she did not reply me.
If this went on, we would not have enough troops even if we did reach where Zi Long and her troops were. But Yuan Zhi was still continuing to charge without paying any attention to the back at all.
“Lord Shamoke!” The soldier yelled at me once more, “What do we do now?!”
Wu… I looked at Yuan Zhi and turned back to look at the troops at the back. If we want to achieve victory then I can only believe in Yuan Zhi’s judgement and hope for luck. But if we cannot make it to Zi Long with the bulk of our troops, then it’s clear that we will not be able to attain victory.
… Looks like I will have to do something. I frowned as I felt intensely pressured. I was not Liu Bei now, nor did I have anyone to offer any tactics to me. To save my troops and win this battle, I will have to act as Shamoke.
“As Lord Xu Shu said, don’t get engrossed in battle!” I repeated and gave her further orders, “Relay the order, tell them that if they find it difficult to advance, put 2 platoons 1 on each side to hold back the enemy while the rest charge forward! Don’t get engrossed in battle!”
“Understood!” The soldier replied before running off to relay the order.
“Yaa!!” After that, I continued to fight and yell as I hacked and slashed about, cutting down several enemy troops. I felt a bit shaken at this point and lay down on my horse’s mane.
I looked ahead and saw Yuan Zhi’s white gown floating in the distance, which made me feel relieved. She did not continue charging and remained stationary, which meant that she had decided to wait for the rest of us.
“Haa!!!!” Just then, Yuan Zhi roared out in a rather strange voice that lacked her usual sternness and power.
I looked over and saw that she was moving about like a snake while holding on to her horse with her legs as score of men and horses lay dead around her. Even though there was some distance between us, I could hear the sound of her blade cutting through the air. It was a sound that sent chills down my spine but also made me get hot-blooded.
Yuan Zhi charged up ahead to draw as much attention and tear a hole in the enemy’s formation all by herself. It was difficult to remember that she was just an administrative official and she also did not wear any armour at all.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled to her once more when there was just about 10 paces between us.
“Xuan De! Hurry up!” Yuan Zhi finally heard me and yelled back as she continued advancing without turning back,
It feels like Yuan Zhi has become even stronger after drinking. Her swordsmanship was spectacular to begin with but it became even more so after she drank liquor. Is this some sort of drunken swordplay?
Liu Bei POV
“Alright.” I was still worried even though Yuan Zhi was not but still nodded, “As expected, the enemy withdraws when our troops charge in.”
“Eh? Really?” I said as I took a closer look, “… Ah, it’s true!”
The enemy troops continued to retreat and make space for Feng Xian every time she advanced. What was going on?
“This is the 8 Doors Golden Lock formation. Once you are drawn in, you are done for.”
“Eh?!” I exclaimed frantically, “Then that’s…”
“It’s fine. Like I said,” Yuan Zhi shook her head and interrupted me, “As long as they follow my instructions, there will be no problem. I don’t think there will be any issue with this judging by how the soldiers reacted just now.”
— When you charge in, do not get engrossed in battle. Do your best to keep your troops together and just keep moving forward and charging ahead in a straight line.
These were the only instructions given to Feng Xian and Wen Yuan. But I cannot see how this will work for now.
“Officers, are your troops ready?” Yuan Zhi yelled to the 1,000-man generals at the back.
“Anytime!”
Yuan Zhi then looked at me and tried to say something but remembered something and closed her mouth before speaking to me again, “I’ll give the order. I almost forgot you were supposed to be dead.”
“Ah… Hahaha…” I gave several dry laughs. This is not really funny to be honest…
“I’ll leave it to you then.” I said and Yuan Zhi nodded.
… Un? I thought that she would do the same thing as Feng xian did and raise her hand and yell before charging out but what she did instead was to take out a gourd and take a drink from it.
Ah~ Sugar water huh? She’s probably indulging in a similar habit as Huang Zu is, but with sugar water instead of liquor.
Eh? When I took a closer look, I found that it was Huang Zu’s gourd that was of the smaller, more portable size and not Yuan Zhi’s usual gourd that was too big to be carried on oneself.
“You borrowed that from Huang Zu?”
“Haa~ … Un.” Yuan Zhi gave a long sigh after she finished taking a long draught and nodded. I do not know if this is my misconception but her face seems to be redder than before and has a different aura about her than usual.
“Umm, Yuan Zhi?”
“Here.” She said as she tossed her gourd over to me when I called out to her and raised her sword which she pointed to the heavens, “Soldiers! Follow me to break the surround now!”
“Oh!!!”
The way Yuan Zhi yelled was very unlike how she usually spoke. There did not seem to be any hint of intellect in her yell and it seemed ferocious.
“O-Oh!” I yelled back a little slower than everyone else and spilled some of the gourd’s contents while rushing to respond.
Ah, it would be terrible if I spilt sugar water all over, I thought, but then caught a whiff of a alcohol.
Eh? Why is it… Ah! This is not sugar water! It’s liquor! Yuan Zhi, you… drank liquor?!
I wanted to ask her why but when I looked ahead, I saw that she was galloping ahead at full speed as though she were trying to catch up to Feng Xian and we were only 30-40 paces away from the enemy formation.
Eh! Who cares! Be it drinking liquor or venting out frustrations, I have long gotten past peoples’ pre-battle rituals. It’s understandable for people to feel differently from normal before battles after all.
“Jia!” I yelled as swung my reins down harder and galloped ahead. I then drew my sword and pointed it ahead. I wanted very much to yell something out but did not know what to say. This seems to be the first time that I am leading a charge into an enemy formation.
“C-Charge!!”
“Oh!!”
In the end, I just used the simplest of messages. It seems like my troops will cheer and yell no matter what I yell anyway. In fact, I think that they will do so even if I just yell some garbled, unintelligible message.
*tata*– *Ding* *Ding* *Ding*!
While thinking about these irrelevant things, the sound of blades clashing filled my ears and the yells from my troops at the back could be heard.
“Yaa! Haa! Die!”
I must say I have gotten used to hearing such yells all around me to the point where I no longer feel irritated, frustrated or afraid any longer.
“Yaa!”
And soon, I too contributed to the noise as I swung my blade about. My voice was not too loud but I could hear it easily. By the way, I am not really noticing too much where I am swinging at and how I am swinging, only making sure that I was attacking enemy troops and not my own. Zi Long taught me that I should not be concentrating on any one area too much in battles unless I am in a 1-on-1 duel and should just reply on my peripheral vision and spread out my attention.
Of course, part of the reason for this is also to make sure that I have Yuan Zhi in my field of vision at all times so I can keep up. She was currently at the head of the charge and it was really difficult to catch up to her.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled over to her but my voice was covered by the surrounding din as she continued to charge ahead without turning back.
“Lord Shamoke! Some troops at the back have begun to fall behind!”
“Eh?” I turned around in shock when I heard what the soldier from behind me said and found that our troops were beginning to get more and more scattered. If this went on then we would not even be able to advance further than 100 paces before our army would be complete scattered.
Wu… As expected of the 8 Doors Golden Lock formation huh?
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled out to her once more but she did not reply me.
If this went on, we would not have enough troops even if we did reach where Zi Long and her troops were. But Yuan Zhi was still continuing to charge without paying any attention to the back at all.
“Lord Shamoke!” The soldier yelled at me once more, “What do we do now?!”
Wu… I looked at Yuan Zhi and turned back to look at the troops at the back. If we want to achieve victory then I can only believe in Yuan Zhi’s judgement and hope for luck. But if we cannot make it to Zi Long with the bulk of our troops, then it’s clear that we will not be able to attain victory.
… Looks like I will have to do something. I frowned as I felt intensely pressured. I was not Liu Bei now, nor did I have anyone to offer any tactics to me. To save my troops and win this battle, I will have to act as Shamoke.
“As Lord Xu Shu said, don’t get engrossed in battle!” I repeated and gave her further orders, “Relay the order, tell them that if they find it difficult to advance, put 2 platoons 1 on each side to hold back the enemy while the rest charge forward! Don’t get engrossed in battle!”
“Understood!” The soldier replied before running off to relay the order.
“Yaa!!” After that, I continued to fight and yell as I hacked and slashed about, cutting down several enemy troops. I felt a bit shaken at this point and lay down on my horse’s mane.
I looked ahead and saw Yuan Zhi’s white gown floating in the distance, which made me feel relieved. She did not continue charging and remained stationary, which meant that she had decided to wait for the rest of us.
“Haa!!!!” Just then, Yuan Zhi roared out in a rather strange voice that lacked her usual sternness and power.
I looked over and saw that she was moving about like a snake while holding on to her horse with her legs as score of men and horses lay dead around her. Even though there was some distance between us, I could hear the sound of her blade cutting through the air. It was a sound that sent chills down my spine but also made me get hot-blooded.
Yuan Zhi charged up ahead to draw as much attention and tear a hole in the enemy’s formation all by herself. It was difficult to remember that she was just an administrative official and she also did not wear any armour at all.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled to her once more when there was just about 10 paces between us.
“Xuan De! Hurry up!” Yuan Zhi finally heard me and yelled back as she continued advancing without turning back,
It feels like Yuan Zhi has become even stronger after drinking. Her swordsmanship was spectacular to begin with but it became even more so after she drank liquor. Is this some sort of drunken swordplay?
