The Xianbei Chief's Fatal Miscalculation
In this era, if I had to name the most prominent nomadic tribes active around You Province and Bing Province, I'd pick exactly three. The Xianbei, the Xiongnu, and the Wuhuan—the ones even the Later Han court had official records on. Sure, there were other groups, but if you asked who the big players were, these three always came up first. To put it bluntly, they were the ones who loved raiding, held old grudges, and generally caused headaches. As nomadic peoples who spent their entire lives on horseback, they crossed the borders whenever they felt like it to plunder and burn everything in sight.
What made them terrifying was their overwhelming numbers of cavalry. In this age, cavalry ranked among the most powerful military assets you could have. The only reason they didn't threaten the Han dynasty itself was their lack of unity—they remained fragmented and disorganized. Things might change in the future, but at least for now, that wasn't the case.
Among these numerous horse-riding tribes, the Wuhuan were the ones who loved charging straight in without thinking. The Xiongnu and Xianbei, on the other hand, preferred hit-and-run tactics—riding with high mobility, showering the battlefield with arrows, and using the wide plains to their advantage. But that kind of movement wasn't being used in this battle. The Xianbei chief whose forces I'd ambushed had chosen to meet us head-on.
There were several reasons for that. First, this particular Xianbei tribe had recently swallowed up several smaller clans and brought them under its banner, greatly increasing its power and numbers. Their cavalry—the strongest military force of this era—had grown to ridiculous levels. Naturally, that bred confidence. At the same time, they needed to display their might against this invading army.
Roughly twenty thousand cavalry gave them plenty of confidence. When you already held the advantage in raw power, complicated tactics often became unnecessary. But the biggest, most decisive reason was simpler: the chief had completely underestimated me and my army.
Think about it. A commander who brings infantry along and still fields a force roughly equal in number to theirs, doesn't wait for reinforcements, makes no attempt to bridge the gap, and just charges straight at the front like a madman? To them, I looked like nothing more than a crazy fool who had never experienced real battle—a greenhorn brat. So they looked down on the enemy before them and grew overconfident.
Once I crush those bastards, nothing from the Han will be able to stop me for a while! This is my chance. I'll wipe them out, sweep through their lands plundering everything, absorb the other tribes, and build my power properly!
Crushing a clueless brat like that would be easier than wringing a scrawny chicken's neck. At least, that's what the chief believed.
That was his mistake.
The ones they were facing weren't ordinary humans. They were monsters who had long surpassed human limits—the greatest freaks in the world. They weren't beings that could be measured by normal human common sense. It wouldn't take him long to realize just how foolish his judgment had been.
After all, once two forces on these plains spotted each other and began charging, it wouldn't take long for them to collide, would it?
The one who kicked things off was none other than Xiang Yu, the woman who had loudly declared that the first move belonged to her.
The one who would one day become the Hegemon-King of Western Chu and wield the Chocheon Sword and Chojin Spear had, true to form, armed herself with both a spear and a blade in each hand. But these weren't ordinary weapons. Normal spears and swords weren't this ridiculously large, heavy, and brutish.
"Hahaha! Look at this crazy bitch bringing junk that couldn't even be used as decoration!"
"Is the battlefield a playground to you?! You damn wench! I'll capture you and beat some common sense and manners into that thick skull of yours!! Uahaha!"
"Not bad looking, though! She'd make the perfect trophy to celebrate the victory of us great Xianbei warriors!! Hahaha!!"
Whether they were following their chief's lead or just naturally stupid, the enemy warriors were also mocking the fools who had charged straight at the front. How foolish indeed. Recognizing your opponent's strength is a skill too!
The presence of countless men and horses. The tension, madness, and heat hanging over the battlefield. The excitement surging within her. And the coming scent of slaughter and blood.
With a demonic smile on her face, Xiang Yu began to move.
KWAAAAAANG—!!!
A single swing of her massive weapon tore through the battlefield, ripping the very air apart and unleashing a storm no human action should ever produce.
FWOOOOOSH!!!
KRAAAAAAAASH!!!!
"K-KYAAAAAAGH!!!"
"Wha...?"
Humans and horses alike were torn apart as if they were nothing, decorating the sky above the battlefield. Overwhelming violence. An unstoppable surge of monstrous strength. With a single swing, dozens of cavalry were reduced to nothing more than chunks of meat, unable to even leave proper corpses. Blood and flesh scattered everywhere as they died without so much as a final scream, their fragments flying through the air like birds.
It was an unbelievable catastrophe created by a single human being.
At the same time, even more Xianbei soldiers were caught in the aftershock and raw power. Limbs were torn off, horses were crushed, and bodies were ripped apart, leaving them crippled. As Xiang Yu's sword strike—which had created a small disaster in a single blow—moved forward, her spear followed, whipping up another storm of blood and gore.
In just two swings—two mere swings—the Xianbei formation collapsed and their advance was halted.
"Kuhahaha! Kuhe, kuhahahahahaha—!!!"
The monster known as Xiang Yu laughed madly, reveling in the sight. This blood-soaked battlefield was pure bliss to her. The sight of what had been human just moments ago now reduced to red fragments flying across the field before her overwhelming power filled her with joy.
And she wasn't the only one creating such monstrous scenes.
"Seriously, that brute doesn't know the meaning of moderation, does she?"
Richard snorted at the rampaging Xiang Yu before hurling the spear in her hand like a bolt of lightning.
"Huh?"
KWAGWAGWAGWAK!!!!
In an instant, every cavalryman in the vicinity was riddled with dozens of holes and died on the spot. It was divine spearwork that left even these battle-hardened Xianbei warriors—who had plenty of combat experience—unable to react or defend themselves at all.
If Xiang Yu's strikes brought a red storm, Richard's spear thrusts were a downpour so fast it left no time to react. The only difference was that instead of raindrops, these were lumps of iron that would explode a human body even with a graze.
A few occasionally survived the barrage, but it wasn't because of their skill. It was simply because Richard had deliberately left them alive so she could split them in half with her hand axe for fun.
CRACK—!
She brought her one-handed axe down, splitting heads and bodies apart. As blood sprayed upward, Richard smiled and licked it from her lips.
"These horses are all money, you know! They're all gifts for our big brother!"
Even as she scolded Xiang Yu, the same crazed look burned in Richard's eyes. After all, she was the one destined to be called the Lionheart. She was cut from the same cloth.
With her eyes half-rolled back, Richard rampaged across the field, eager to split open even more enemy skulls and watch their brains spill out.
At the same time, there was one who faced the enemy with a bit more quiet elegance.
Slice!
Schwaaack!
A neck was cut exactly in half, blood spraying like a fountain.
"K-Kuaaah...!"
Riiiiip!
Crack!
A belly was sliced open, spilling its guts everywhere.
"Aah..."
The woman letting out sweet, heated moans while drenched in blood with a flushed face was none other than Choe Jun-gyeong. Her face was impossibly beautiful, completely at odds with the cruel performance she was putting on. The sword strokes from the blades in both her hands painted lines across the world with spurting blood and entrails, turning them into crimson flowers of horrifying beauty.
From afar it might look like art. Up close, it was pure terror.
This brutal method was partly because she instinctively knew that once soldiers fell into fear, the battle would end in victory. It was also simply her true nature revealing itself.
"U-Uuuu..."
A man whose neck had been half-severed, head lolling as he couldn't even die properly. Warriors chopped into pieces and left to rot. Once their faces were caked with the blood and guts of their former comrades, the madness of battle would fade, replaced by rising terror toward the monster before them.
And if those who witnessed it began to multiply by the dozens with every breath, accompanied by the sound of leaking air and desperate pleas for mercy, the fear only grew stronger.
A ghost who approached slowly—ever so slowly—yet delivered inescapable death. A disaster of a completely different style from Xiang Yu or Richard.
"U-Uwaaah! Uwaaaaah!!"
"I-It's a ghost...! A sword-wielding ghost is coming for us...!!"
An impartial preacher of death who sliced through everyone with mechanical precision and zero deviation. It was truly the skill of a general worthy of being called a Sword Master by future generations.
And the man leading these three wasn't ordinary either.
CRAAAAASH!
THUD!
When his mace came down, the impact didn't just finish off the warriors—it shattered the ground itself. Cavalry caught in the shockwave were crushed and mangled, dying instantly as they slammed into their comrades.
Slice!
Schwaaack!!
The brutal sword swings that came rushing in couldn't be blocked by anyone. Men were cut down along with their weapons and armor, dying on the spot. Even if blades or arrows managed to strike by luck, they simply bent against his magnificent body without penetrating.
My charge was like a great mountain racing across the earth.
"Uahaha! Is this all the famous Xianbei bastards can do?! Struggle harder, damn it!! Hahahaha—!!!"
My laughter rang across the battlefield like a lion's roar. Just four. Just four generals had charged in, collapsing the Xianbei formation, stopping the cavalry's advance, and sweeping them away before the rest of our forces could even arrive. From the enemy's perspective, the damage was so devastating it was hard to believe it was real.
But if there was something that brought even greater despair to the Xianbei, it was the fact that their opponents weren't just these four—they were the army these four were leading.
"Charge! We can't miss this opportunity!!"
"Hahaha! This is easier than chopping straw dummies!"
"Catch the ones trying to run first! Take them all!!"
In that moment, the generals familiar with nomadic warfare—Ma Teng, Pang De, and Yan Xing—split their cavalry into three groups. Ma Teng struck from the front while the other two hit the flanks, tearing into the already devastated Xianbei forces and ripping open their wounds.
"Get in through the opened path! There's nothing to fear!"
"Attack! Attack!! Attack!!!"
"Don't let them escape! Grab them!!"
Then came the infantry led by Ji Ling, Hu Che'er, Gao Shun, and the others, striking sharply to block the retreat and capture the remaining enemies. Even Hu Che'er, who had originally been assigned to guard Jia Xu, ended up joining the slaughter of the Xianbei due to how overwhelmingly one-sided the situation had become.
Four monsters grinding the enemy forces to dust from the front, while energetic generals poured through the gaps with their troops in a savage charge. Cavalry whose legs were tangled and whose morale had been shattered could no longer put up any resistance.
The chief who had been watching this spectacle in a daze completely lost his mind.
"...Huh? W-What is this... Wait, does this even make sense...? Am I... still dreaming...?"
With one wrong judgment and one poor decision, the battle was over. Crushed beneath overwhelming power.
And the monsters who had created this outcome had no intention of leaving the idiot standing there in a stupor alone.
"This bastard is spacing out on the battlefield?! If you're asking to die, then die—!!!"
"Stick your neck out over here, you bastard! I'll split you open real pretty!!"
"...First battle. First enemy commander's head... I'll hang it in my room...!"
"Hey, you brats!! Don't you have any respect for hierarchy?! The enemy commander belongs to me, the head of this army!!"
Xiang Yu, Richard, Choe Jun-gyeong, and me—Yuan Shu.
"Eh...?"
From the very first clash until now, without the slightest drop in speed or momentum, these four insane human blenders—who had already ground more than half the enemy army into paste in what felt like no time at all—now charged at the same time toward a single head.