Liu Bei POV
“Yuan Zhi!?” I yelled, feeling fearful as I hurried forward.
“She couldn’t have fell asleep from liquor right?” Zi Long asked but still hurried forward as well with Feng Xian in tow. At this time, the report from the soldier was no longer important.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled as I dismounted and knelt beside Yuan Zhi.
Yuan Zhi, do not scare me. This sort of joke is not funny at all, I thought as I flipped her over but gasped when I saw that 1 side of her gowns were dyed red with blood.
When… When did she sustain this injury!
“Lord Xu Shu!” Zi Long yelled and looked about for Hua Tuo.
“If you’re looking for Hua Tuo, she’s currently in the mansion looking after Yi De.”
“Alright, let’s get there at once.” Zi Long said and we exchanged glances before carrying her up while Feng Xian yelled to some nearby troops to come over to help.
“No need to rush… No need to rush…” Yuan Zhi said as she shook her head lightly. I could feel as well that she was trembling and she no longer had any strength.
“How can we not rush when you’re injured like that!” I exclaimed as I frowned. She would not be trying to say that she was not injured at all right? To think she pushed herself this hard… From up close, I could see that even her lips were pale.
Yuan Zhi shook her head weakly and pointed to Fan city to the north, “Quick… What needs to be attended to… Is… There…”
“Alright, I got it.” Feng Xian nodded and immediately turned to the troops, “Wen Yuan! Pull out 3,000 troops at once! We are going to Fan city immediately!”
Feng Xian’s voice was loud and it reverberated in my head. Just then, Yuan Zhi’s hand slipped down and she slowly closed her eyes.
As though she had fallen asleep
Li Dian POV
If despair was what filled my heart the last time I returned to Fan city from Xinye, then all there is this time is emptiness.
“That’s how it is.”
I listened to the reports of the remaining 4 thousand-man generals. Even if we reform our ranks, we will not be able to fill up their battalions. I had already prepared myself for this but I still felt faint from this knowledge. I try to put up a strong and dependable facade which I am able to keep up most of the time but at times like these, the impulse to cry is still there, albeit a little.
“Alright, I got it.” I said and nodded as I dismissed them so that they could get to work as soon as possible. I felt rather unnatural putting my hands on the reins but I had to come to terms with the reality that I would not have a hat for a long while.
“Lord Li Dian.” Just then, one of the officers in the brief turned back and called out to me. I looked at her and saw that she looked troubled and had difficulties saying what she wanted to.
“Un? What is it? Hurry up and say it.” I urged as I had to report all of this to Cao Ren after all.
“Ah…” She stammered and sank into silence for a while before she finally asked, “May I ask what are our plans after this, Lord Li Dian?”
That, is a very good question. And it also happens to be the 1 question where I really do not know if I ought to give her the truth or a patronising answer.
“After this,” I paused and thought of the right words to use, “We will be defending the city and wait for the main body to arrive. Of course, if the enemy is confident of victory and attacks us, then we have a chance of attaining victory through counterattacking them.”
Naturally, I did not believe in the hypothetical situation I just described. There is no way that Xu Shu woman who is dressed in white will come to siege the city. They will try to do some things in the meantime but they will definitely not siege the city. Yet just saying that we will defend the city is far too weak so I had to try to fit in some sort of vision for victory inside.
When I finished, I looked at the officer and saw that she looked somewhat relieved. I did not feel the same way however. She might have had to experience seeing the troops under her command shrinking to just 100 from 1,000 but I have had to see my army shrink to just 3,000+ from 30,000.
Besides… I turned back and looked at Lu Xiang. Lu Xiang is not an important person to me by any means but as a warrior, I must repay the favour for saving my life. At the same time, I cannot deny that I have feelings of respect and also pity for her. As I thought so, I reached out with a spare hand to readjust her position so that she would not fall over later and swung my reins down as I accelerated slightly to catch up to the head of the troops.
Along the way, I thought back to the battle. What caught my attention the most was also what perturbed me the most. With how things were after the second battle, if Imperial Uncle Liu Bei is really dead, why did Guan Yu and the rest choose to fake their defections? What would be the purpose of doing so?
Have they really remained united and inherited the will of Liu Bei? Or is it because of that Xu Shu? Was it her who kept everyone together? Clearly not as she only join them recently.
… No matter what angle I look at this from, that man wearing the Nanman hat is extremely suspicious. Even though I was not able to catch a glimpse of his face, the way everyone tried to protect him before made it clear that he was no ordinary general. Given this, and everything else I have observed thus far, that man must be…
“Is the counting complete?”
Un? I looked up when I heard a voice and found that Cao Ren was in front of me. I thought that I was at the head of the troops since I saw her but when I looked about, I found that my relative position had not changed much. Looks like my horse slowed down while I was thinking.
“Ah, un. The count is complete.” I nodded, “I’m sorry, I was thinking about some things.”
“No, that’s fine. We do indeed have a lot to think about right now.” Cao Ren smiled bitterly as she shook her head, “How is it? How many troops do we have left?”
“Less than 4,000.” I replied simply, knowing that Cao Ren should have been able to arrive at a similar ballpark figure as well.
“I see.” Cao Ren said as her smile stiffened up, “Less than 4,000 huh~ Looks like there were more survivors than I thought.”
So she was more pessimistic than I was huh?
“But we couldn’t turn the tide in the end huh? With my formation.”
“That couldn’t have been helped. No one knows what will happen in battle.”
Naturally, I would not be dishing out points for her now. And it’s not like I had any ideas back then as well.
“I’m sorry. I even bragged about it at the beginning. Yet if we hadn’t stayed and fought, we could have left the battlefield with a more respectable number than 4,000.”
“You can’t say that… At the end of the day, we lost because we underestimated their strength.”
Even though we had just suffered a grave defeat in the city, we were rather confident of pulling off the 8 Doors Golden Lock as our troops were highly disciplined, skilled and geared. This was seen most acutely in how we easily devoured the first batch of enemies almost effortlessly. However, we are only left with 4,000 troops now. The bulk of the losses were sustained from Lu Bu’s charge.
“Un…” Cao Ren sank into silence for a while after I finished before she continued, “I am actually very sure that few people know about my formation and even fewer know how to counter it. But…”
“Un?” I looked at Cao Ren when she trailed off and sighed and urged her to continue, “What’s the matter?”
“I think the enemy must have recognised my formation.” Cao Ren finally spoke up after a long while.
“Un,” I nodded, “Have you discussed this formation with others before?”
Cao Ren shook her head, “I have never discussed this with anyone before. Naturally, I learnt this from a book. Of the 8 Doors, 2 bring good fortune, 3 bring bad fortune and 3 bring death. That Lu Bu charged actually charged between a Door of bad fortune and good fortune and actually broke the formation while doing so.”
“So the enemy was able to counter your formation huh?”
“Un…” Cao Ren frowned as she sank into silence. Looks like my guess was wrong.
“What really impressed me was this. According to the book, one should split into 2 groups and enter the Doors of good fortune. Thereafter, doing battle there will eventually break the formation.” Cao Ren paused as she said so and looked up, “Yet the enemy actually forcefully charged through the entire formation. It is true that this simple act can mess up the complex formation but this is not the optimal strategy. I have to say though that it is much simpler and cleaner than the solution I mentioned earlier.”
Liu Bei POV
“Yuan Zhi!?” I yelled, feeling fearful as I hurried forward.
“She couldn’t have fell asleep from liquor right?” Zi Long asked but still hurried forward as well with Feng Xian in tow. At this time, the report from the soldier was no longer important.
“Yuan Zhi!” I yelled as I dismounted and knelt beside Yuan Zhi.
Yuan Zhi, do not scare me. This sort of joke is not funny at all, I thought as I flipped her over but gasped when I saw that 1 side of her gowns were dyed red with blood.
When… When did she sustain this injury!
“Lord Xu Shu!” Zi Long yelled and looked about for Hua Tuo.
“If you’re looking for Hua Tuo, she’s currently in the mansion looking after Yi De.”
“Alright, let’s get there at once.” Zi Long said and we exchanged glances before carrying her up while Feng Xian yelled to some nearby troops to come over to help.
“No need to rush… No need to rush…” Yuan Zhi said as she shook her head lightly. I could feel as well that she was trembling and she no longer had any strength.
“How can we not rush when you’re injured like that!” I exclaimed as I frowned. She would not be trying to say that she was not injured at all right? To think she pushed herself this hard… From up close, I could see that even her lips were pale.
Yuan Zhi shook her head weakly and pointed to Fan city to the north, “Quick… What needs to be attended to… Is… There…”
“Alright, I got it.” Feng Xian nodded and immediately turned to the troops, “Wen Yuan! Pull out 3,000 troops at once! We are going to Fan city immediately!”
Feng Xian’s voice was loud and it reverberated in my head. Just then, Yuan Zhi’s hand slipped down and she slowly closed her eyes.
As though she had fallen asleep
Li Dian POV
If despair was what filled my heart the last time I returned to Fan city from Xinye, then all there is this time is emptiness.
“That’s how it is.”
I listened to the reports of the remaining 4 thousand-man generals. Even if we reform our ranks, we will not be able to fill up their battalions. I had already prepared myself for this but I still felt faint from this knowledge. I try to put up a strong and dependable facade which I am able to keep up most of the time but at times like these, the impulse to cry is still there, albeit a little.
“Alright, I got it.” I said and nodded as I dismissed them so that they could get to work as soon as possible. I felt rather unnatural putting my hands on the reins but I had to come to terms with the reality that I would not have a hat for a long while.
“Lord Li Dian.” Just then, one of the officers in the brief turned back and called out to me. I looked at her and saw that she looked troubled and had difficulties saying what she wanted to.
“Un? What is it? Hurry up and say it.” I urged as I had to report all of this to Cao Ren after all.
“Ah…” She stammered and sank into silence for a while before she finally asked, “May I ask what are our plans after this, Lord Li Dian?”
That, is a very good question. And it also happens to be the 1 question where I really do not know if I ought to give her the truth or a patronising answer.
“After this,” I paused and thought of the right words to use, “We will be defending the city and wait for the main body to arrive. Of course, if the enemy is confident of victory and attacks us, then we have a chance of attaining victory through counterattacking them.”
Naturally, I did not believe in the hypothetical situation I just described. There is no way that Xu Shu woman who is dressed in white will come to siege the city. They will try to do some things in the meantime but they will definitely not siege the city. Yet just saying that we will defend the city is far too weak so I had to try to fit in some sort of vision for victory inside.
When I finished, I looked at the officer and saw that she looked somewhat relieved. I did not feel the same way however. She might have had to experience seeing the troops under her command shrinking to just 100 from 1,000 but I have had to see my army shrink to just 3,000+ from 30,000.
Besides… I turned back and looked at Lu Xiang. Lu Xiang is not an important person to me by any means but as a warrior, I must repay the favour for saving my life. At the same time, I cannot deny that I have feelings of respect and also pity for her. As I thought so, I reached out with a spare hand to readjust her position so that she would not fall over later and swung my reins down as I accelerated slightly to catch up to the head of the troops.
Along the way, I thought back to the battle. What caught my attention the most was also what perturbed me the most. With how things were after the second battle, if Imperial Uncle Liu Bei is really dead, why did Guan Yu and the rest choose to fake their defections? What would be the purpose of doing so?
Have they really remained united and inherited the will of Liu Bei? Or is it because of that Xu Shu? Was it her who kept everyone together? Clearly not as she only join them recently.
… No matter what angle I look at this from, that man wearing the Nanman hat is extremely suspicious. Even though I was not able to catch a glimpse of his face, the way everyone tried to protect him before made it clear that he was no ordinary general. Given this, and everything else I have observed thus far, that man must be…
“Is the counting complete?”
Un? I looked up when I heard a voice and found that Cao Ren was in front of me. I thought that I was at the head of the troops since I saw her but when I looked about, I found that my relative position had not changed much. Looks like my horse slowed down while I was thinking.
“Ah, un. The count is complete.” I nodded, “I’m sorry, I was thinking about some things.”
“No, that’s fine. We do indeed have a lot to think about right now.” Cao Ren smiled bitterly as she shook her head, “How is it? How many troops do we have left?”
“Less than 4,000.” I replied simply, knowing that Cao Ren should have been able to arrive at a similar ballpark figure as well.
“I see.” Cao Ren said as her smile stiffened up, “Less than 4,000 huh~ Looks like there were more survivors than I thought.”
So she was more pessimistic than I was huh?
“But we couldn’t turn the tide in the end huh? With my formation.”
“That couldn’t have been helped. No one knows what will happen in battle.”
Naturally, I would not be dishing out points for her now. And it’s not like I had any ideas back then as well.
“I’m sorry. I even bragged about it at the beginning. Yet if we hadn’t stayed and fought, we could have left the battlefield with a more respectable number than 4,000.”
“You can’t say that… At the end of the day, we lost because we underestimated their strength.”
Even though we had just suffered a grave defeat in the city, we were rather confident of pulling off the 8 Doors Golden Lock as our troops were highly disciplined, skilled and geared. This was seen most acutely in how we easily devoured the first batch of enemies almost effortlessly. However, we are only left with 4,000 troops now. The bulk of the losses were sustained from Lu Bu’s charge.
“Un…” Cao Ren sank into silence for a while after I finished before she continued, “I am actually very sure that few people know about my formation and even fewer know how to counter it. But…”
“Un?” I looked at Cao Ren when she trailed off and sighed and urged her to continue, “What’s the matter?”
“I think the enemy must have recognised my formation.” Cao Ren finally spoke up after a long while.
“Un,” I nodded, “Have you discussed this formation with others before?”
Cao Ren shook her head, “I have never discussed this with anyone before. Naturally, I learnt this from a book. Of the 8 Doors, 2 bring good fortune, 3 bring bad fortune and 3 bring death. That Lu Bu charged actually charged between a Door of bad fortune and good fortune and actually broke the formation while doing so.”
“So the enemy was able to counter your formation huh?”
“Un…” Cao Ren frowned as she sank into silence. Looks like my guess was wrong.
“What really impressed me was this. According to the book, one should split into 2 groups and enter the Doors of good fortune. Thereafter, doing battle there will eventually break the formation.” Cao Ren paused as she said so and looked up, “Yet the enemy actually forcefully charged through the entire formation. It is true that this simple act can mess up the complex formation but this is not the optimal strategy. I have to say though that it is much simpler and cleaner than the solution I mentioned earlier.”
