The Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition (6) - The Battle Begins
The bells rang out—ding! ding! ding!—followed by the deep, resonant blast of war horns. The sound thundered across the battlefield, signaling the start of combat.
It was true that Gao Balgi had lost out in the struggle for the Goguryeo throne. That didn’t mean his martial prowess was weak. Far from it. He had been personally selected for my elite guard in Liaodong based solely on his combat ability, and as a member of the royal family, his understanding of tactics and strategy was exceptional. He had undergone modern training regimens that kept his body perfectly balanced, and his horsemanship—honed through years of fighting nomads—was a model for any cavalryman.
He mounted the white horse gifted by the Xianbei tribe, accepted the cavalry lance I handed him, and tucked it firmly under his arm.
“Ha! Are you so afraid of me now that you’ve brought such a ridiculously long spear?”
The gates of Hulao Pass swung open, and a man in dark crimson armor rode forward. He wore no helmet, only the armor, and gripped a polearm that fused spear and axe. A confident smirk played on his lips.
“This is annoying. Let’s finish this quickly,” I muttered.
I lowered my faceplate, secured my shield to my left arm, and leveled the cavalry lance.
“Kkak! Good!”
The distance between them was roughly two hundred paces. The horses moved from a walk to a trot, then a canter, and finally a full gallop. Both Gao Balgi’s white charger and Lu Bu’s red steed were massive assault horses, far larger than the legendary steeds of this era. The gap between the two riders closed in an instant.
“Just because a spear is long doesn’t mean it’s any good!”
Clang!
Lu Bu swung his polearm and struck the shaft of Gao Balgi’s lance. But the weapon, locked firmly under an arm protected by steel plate, didn’t budge. The look of panic on Lu Bu’s face was visible even from this distance.
“What the—?!”
Whoosh!
Just before the spearhead could pierce his chest, Lu Bu twisted his body violently, almost falling from his horse, and barely avoided the thrust. He clamped his legs around the horse’s barrel and hung off its side, dodging the charge entirely. His posture was ruined, but Gao Balgi couldn’t immediately strike at his exposed back. Lu Bu swept his polearm in a wide arc that scraped the ground, using the momentum to swing himself upright again.
They had passed each other without landing a single blow. Both armies erupted in cheers filled with excitement.
“Gao Balgi! Gao Balgi!”
“Lord Fengxian! Lord Fengxian!”
“Kkak! What the hell… is your name ‘Balgi’ or ‘erection’? Kkakakakak! Either way, it’s hilarious!”
“It’s Gao Balgi. Not erection.”
“Same difference, kkakakak!”
“…If you keep saying my name like that, I’m going to have to kill you.”
“Can you even manage that? At this range, what good is that long spear of yours?”
“This thing? The Colonel kept pestering me to practice with it, so I’ve been carrying it around.”
Gao Balgi hurled the lance toward our camp and drew the cavalry saber tied at his waist.
Tsk… that was expensive. I’ll have to scold him when he gets back.
“Our people have used these since ancient times.”
The saber had a distinctive ring at the pommel—commonly called a hwan-su-do. Actually, this blade looked several spans longer than a standard one. Gao Balgi spurred his horse forward. Lu Bu yanked his reins and began his second charge.
“Fine! Let’s play!”
After the first clash, the distance between them wasn’t great. Even assault horses needed room to reach full speed. Naturally, their collision speed was noticeably slower than before. However, weapons like the polearm and cavalry saber were far more effective at moderate speeds, where they could deliver continuous, powerful strikes rather than a single high-velocity impact.
Gao Balgi used the shield strapped to his left arm to block the downward chop of Lu Bu’s polearm, then twisted it to catch the head.
“Whoa!”
Lu Bu twisted his weapon free, but he had to rely on the durability of his armor to withstand the simultaneous slash from the cavalry saber.
Clang-clang-clang!
Like most armor of this era, Lu Bu’s was lamellar—small iron plates laced together. Several plates snapped and flew off. Gao Balgi clicked his tongue at the lack of solid feedback and kept pressing the attack.
“Where do you think you’re running?! You have to keep fighting me, Lord Fengxian!”
Seeing the enemy’s back, Lu Bu urged his horse in pursuit. Gao Balgi sheathed his ring-pommel saber and pulled out a fire pot, lighting the fuse.
“That horse is incredible! When you die, I’ll take it for myself!”
“Lord Fengxian! Lord Fengxian!”
From the outside, it looked like Gao Balgi was being pushed back. The cheers from Dong Zhuo’s army grew louder.
“Brother, shouldn’t we help him?”
“Help who? Him?”
“He’s losing. If he’s defeated here, our army’s morale will plummet… and you’ll suffer a major loss too, won’t you?”
“Even I can’t beat him on horseback. So just trust him and finish packing.”
“…Understood.”
Gao Balgi was a blunt man, but not exactly a pleasant one. Having lost the succession struggle and been forced into exile in a foreign land, even a saint would have developed a twisted personality. That twisted nature always manifested in sudden, opportunistic strikes that caught opponents off guard.
From the beginning, there was no way plate armor could be pierced by a blade swung with so little weight behind it. Yet the man had deliberately twisted his body to avoid the cut.
Whirr!
When the fuse had burned far enough, he spun and hurled the Jincheonroe behind him.
“Cheap tricks like this won’t work on me!”
Taeng!
Lu Bu swung his polearm and batted the bomb away. But the fuse had already burned down into the body of the explosive.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore across the battlefield. To the people of this era—who had never witnessed the phenomenon of an explosion—the roar of the Jincheonroe was like a lightning bolt striking from a clear sky. The shrapnel scattered by the blast scraped across Lu Bu’s armor and embedded dozens of iron fragments into his unprotected face.
“Ugh… AAAAAARGH!”
“Hiiiiiigh!”
The red horse panicked and reared wildly. Lu Bu, who rode without stirrups and relied solely on leg strength, dropped the reins and fought desperately not to fall. The tension throughout his body sent blood rushing to his face. Fresh blood burst from the countless cuts and gashes left by the metal shards.
Of course, the Jincheonroe’s fragments had rained down on Gao Balgi as well. But a Liaodong cavalryman encased in full plate armor and riding a horse fitted with heavy barding was not going to lose combat effectiveness to shrapnel from a blast five meters away.
The horse on our side had been startled too, but the stirrups—firmly integrated with the saddle—kept the rider secure even when the animal bucked. Besides, the horse had grown somewhat accustomed to loud noises, so its panic didn’t last long.
I looked around. Soldiers on both sides were clutching their ears and grimacing.
“Liu Bei, have you finished packing?”
“What?!”
“I said, have you finished packing?!”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Then let’s get out of here! Balgi, you too—run!”
“Yes, sir!”
Now that I had thoroughly stirred up the battlefield, it was time to prepare for our own fight. The rest was up to the eighteen warlords of the coalition. I didn’t care anymore.
Piiiiiiii…
The unprecedented explosion left a violent ringing in everyone’s ears. No one could think straight. Even the strongest-willed commanders were unable to issue proper orders because of the physical symptom of tinnitus.
After barely regaining some semblance of order, Cao Cao turned to ask what kind of sorcery had been used—only to discover that our camp was completely empty.
“The Lord of Fire… so the rumors of him using real magic were true. The world really is coming to an end. Ah, this is no time for that. Now! They still haven’t recovered! Everyone, charge!”
“Waaaaah!”
The momentum had shifted in our favor. Lu Bu, having fallen from his horse, was being supported by his adjutant as he retreated inside Hulao Pass. The Dong Zhuo army, having witnessed their supreme commander struck down as if by heavenly punishment, was utterly demoralized.
Hulao Pass was indeed an impregnable fortress, but had there ever been a fortress in history that had never once fallen? Capturing Hulao Pass was the immediate priority. I was dying to know what Yuan Shao was plotting, but for the Han to survive, we first needed Dong Zhuo’s head.
“Wenyang, start pulling our troops back gradually. Let only Yuan Shao’s army enter.”
“You’re trusting what Lord Gongsun said?”
“That guy doesn’t lie. Actually, he can’t lie. If things go wrong, he’ll either run or go berserk and smash everything. If he were trying to talk his way out of trouble, I would have noticed immediately.”
“…There really isn’t a single trustworthy person in this world.”
“I agree. Still, the fact that Dong Zhuo must be dealt with first hasn’t changed. Since Ji Province has fallen into Baekgyu’s hands, there’s no guarantee they’ll keep supplying us with provisions like before. From now on, it’s a race against time.”
The autumn rains had ended, and the season for finishing the year’s harvest had already passed. The Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition still boasted an army of millions, but the conscripted soldiers’ minds were undoubtedly filled with visions of the golden fields they had left behind in their hometowns.