Zhang Liao
"Liu Feng! I'll hold him here—reform the encirclement!"
"…Yes. Understood. All of you, follow me! Rebuild the encirclement!"
While my spear held Zhang Liao's ji at bay, Liu Feng recovered his wits and led his men out to trap Zhu Ling's forces inside the net once more.
"Yu Eun. Take command of the unit. From this moment, we hold this ground."
"Yes, ma'am!"
I handed command over to Yu Eun and resolved to give my full attention to the man in front of me.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Clang!
He swung his ji again with a furious cry. I blocked it and dropped lower into my stance.
My first encounter with Zhang Liao.
A burly frame, fierce brows, and a presence that could freeze the blood—he was an impressive general in every respect. He wielded a long ji with auxiliary blades fixed to either side of the spearhead.
"So. You're that famous female general everyone's talking about. You may have built your reputation on luck until now, but before Zhang Wenyuan, that ends today."
With that, Zhang Liao charged me again, roaring. His thunderous shout drilled straight into my ears. I could well imagine the valor he had shown at Hefei.
Clang!
Another sharp scrape of metal. I blocked it, but a heavy shock ran from my wrist through my elbow all the way to my shoulder.
At first I had meant to hold out until our encirclement was complete and reinforcements arrived. I discarded that idea at once.
This is no opponent I can handle halfheartedly. I have to go all out—with the resolve to cut his throat right here.
No sooner had I blocked one attack than his recovered ji lashed out three times like lightning—at my torso, my arm, my head.
I turned aside the first and second strikes and leaned sideways to dodge the third. But the ji that had only grazed my shoulder swung straight for my head without even being fully recovered. It was an attack that fused the raw power of a savage beast with the smooth, swift motion of a snake.
Just before the blade reached me, I dropped even lower and slipped clear. The ji tore the air above my helmet in a crescent arc.
"Dodging, are you? Not bad. The stronger you are, the sweeter the cut will be."
He recovered his weapon, fighting spirit blazing, but I only shrugged once and reset my stance.
Outwardly I played at calm. Inside, I had driven my concentration to its absolute limit.
One slip and I'm finished.
We clashed several more times after that. Spear and ji danced through the air dozens of times, and our horses crossed paths again and again without a decisive winner.
I was too locked on Zhang Liao to grasp every detail of the wider battle, but I could feel that the fighting had grown even larger than before.
My direct unit, under Yu Eun's command, was holding Zhang Liao's assault force at bay, while Zhu Ling's army—cut off from retreat by Liu Feng—was taking thrusts from every side with no answer.
On top of that, Cao Hong's main force had entered the field, and Wang Ping and Wu Ban's detachments from the rear had joined as well. Now it was a total war between both armies.
Zhang Fei must be fighting valiantly against the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry by now.
The outcome was not yet clear, but having tasted enough of the battlefield, I could feel the situation gradually tipping our way.
"Here I come again!"
But before that, I still had to deal with Zhang Liao, who was still moving as vigorously as ever.
He relied primarily on unpredictable, rapid attacks. He would seem to aim for my shoulder, then thrust at my throat; he would target my torso, then suddenly come in at my side. It felt as if some flying object were whirling madly around my body.
I blocked or dodged every strike and slipped in counters whenever I could, but he turned them aside with remarkable skill of his own.
Both of us were drenched in sweat, our breathing ragged, yet neither would yield an inch.
As Zhang Liao charged straight at me, I charged straight at him in turn.
Just before his ji swung, I threw myself backward, nearly lying flat against the saddle, and slipped under the blow. From that reclining position I whipped my spear sideways in a sweeping arc toward his head.
"Ah!"
Crack!
But his astonishing reflexes rendered my best strike useless. He turned his head at the last instant; my spear blade only grazed his forehead and knocked his helmet clean off.
"You dare!"
A long gash opened across Zhang Liao's brow. Paying no mind to the bright red blood streaming down, he charged me with another roar.
His ji came flying with even more ferocious force than before, and I blocked it several more times.
Clang!
His ji seemed about to sweep past my spear shaft—then he twisted slightly and hooked an auxiliary blade onto the wood. This was clearly the same technique he had used earlier to send Liu Feng's spear flying.
In that split second of realization, his ji moved and sent my spear spinning away. Then the weapon thrust straight at my torso.
I twisted my waist and dodged; his ji slipped past my side. But I didn't fully clear it—the auxiliary blade sliced across my flank as it went by.
"Ugh!"
Enduring the searing pain in my side, I clamped his spear shaft against my ribs and seized it. A contest of strength began as the two of us grappled over a single ji, each trying to wrench it free. The shaft creaked as if it would snap.
My side burned as if seared by fire, but knowing that even a moment's give would mean the end, I clenched my teeth and held on with everything I had.
In the middle of the struggle, Zhang Liao suddenly drew the sword at his waist with one hand and swung it at my head.
I ducked low to dodge while pulling free an arrow.
As the tip of my helmet was struck by his sword and knocked off, I drove the arrow into his forearm like a dagger.
"Guh…"
The arm holding the ji trembled, a stream of red blood running down it.
He swung his sword once more, but in that instant I wrenched his ji free and used it to block the attack.
Clang!
"This Zhang Wenyuan will cut your throat for certain today."
"Look who's talking!"
We exchanged dozens more passes. Both of us accumulated wounds one by one, yet neither landed a decisive blow.
"Hah… hah…"
Both of us were exhausted to the limit, pouring sweat, but our eyes still blazed with undying fire.
His sword flew toward my throat; my ji flew toward his chest.
"General Cao Hong! We can't hold any longer. Please give the order to retreat…!"
"Damn it. To lose with this much force…"
While Zhang Liao and Jin Cheong fought their bloody duel, the battle turned increasingly against Wei, until at last they were forced to retreat.
Cao Hong had committed his main force from the rear, intending to swing around and strike Zhang Fei's flank, but Wang Ping and Wu Ban's detachments stopped him cold.
And when Zhang Fei himself advanced to the front, Cao Xiu's forces also faltered.
On top of that, the still-holding battlefield entered a new phase when another unit crashed into the fray.
Cao Hong had first thought Feng Hai's reinforcements had finally arrived. But it was Shu's detached force led by Gou Fu, Liu Min, and Zhao Lou.
Having driven off Feng Hai's reinforcements, the detached force joined the battlefield swiftly under Ma Su's guidance—and finally shattered what remained of the enemy's formation.
In the end the withdrawal order was given, and the Wei army was forced into a humiliating retreat. Zhu Ling's forces, caught between Jin Cheong and Liu Feng, were nearly annihilated, and Zhu Ling himself barely broke through the encirclement and fled.
Having barely pulled back and established a new camp, Cao Hong heard another report and frowned.
"General Zhang Liao is severely wounded."
"What!"
Cao Hong could not believe that Zhang Liao of all people had been critically injured. Was he not one of the handful of most valiant generals in the entire Wei army?
But when Cao Hong saw Zhang Liao with his own eyes, he realized it was true.
"General… I have no face to show you…"
"Damn it, how in the world did this…"
Zhang Liao was bleeding from his face, arm, side, shoulder—there was scarcely an uninjured spot on him.
From what they heard, it was the result of single combat with Jin Cheong.
Jin Cheong—was that one's skill truly so outstanding?
Cao Hong had clashed with Jin Cheong a few times himself, so it was not as if he didn't know. Still, he had thought she was no match for Zhang Liao…
Zhang Liao and Jin Cheong. Both had lost their helmets, and their weapons had been lost or broken—their duel had been a true life-or-death bloodbath.
"Then what of Jin Cheong?"
When he asked, he was told Jin Cheong had also been severely wounded and carried to the rear. At that, Cao Hong breathed a quiet sigh of relief inwardly.
Of course. No matter how skilled Jin Cheong is, she couldn't walk away unscathed from Zhang Liao.
Sending Zhang Liao to the rear for treatment, Cao Hong issued one more order.
"Send spies to scout the enemy camp. Find out what became of that Jin Cheong."
"Yes, sir!"
Watching Zhang Liao being carried toward the rear in a cart, he thought:
Better if he'd just died this time.
Some time later, the spy reported back.
"Jin Cheong's injuries are also severe; she is currently being transferred to the rear."
"I see. Understood."
A little disappointing that she wasn't dead yet, but she wouldn't be able to take the field for a while. That was how Cao Hong saw it.
"Oh no. Oh no. General Jin. What am I supposed to do about this, huh? How am I supposed to face my elder brother and General Sukji—Jin Do—looking like this? Aigoo. Tsk tsk."
Zhang Fei clicked his tongue repeatedly as he looked at me lying in the cart.
"It's nothing serious, so please don't worry too much, General Zhang."
"General Jin. This is all my fault. Because I pushed too far ahead… You saved me again this time, and now you're the one who's hurt like this…"
Liu Feng hung his head, his voice thick with guilt.
"It's not your fault, General Liu. We won because you built that encirclement."
"Right. We won thanks to your strategy, and yet here you are like this—doesn't sit well with me at all."
"Please don't worry. A short rest in the rear and I'll be fine."
"Alright, alright. Leave this place to me and rest in the rear without a care."
"Yes. Then I'll leave the rest in your hands."
Having fought Zhang Liao, my injuries were severe enough that I would withdraw to Fancheng for treatment.
When those around me stepped back, Yu Eun quietly approached my side.
"General. Are you all right?"
"Yeah. It hurts a bit."
Yu Eun studied my face with concern for a moment, then bent down and whispered in my ear.
"General. It's true your wounds aren't light and you do need treatment, but…"
"Hmm?"
"This business of withdrawing to the rear—you've got something else planned, haven't you?"
Instead of answering, I gave a slight smile.
"So you do have something in mind after all. Very well—I'll keep quiet about it."
"It's not like I'm faking, though. It really does hurt."
"Yes, yes. I'll escort you carefully."
Clop. Clop.
"General. Are you all right? To think you've ended up like this…"
Zheng Sui's voice trembled as he drove the cart I lay in.
"I'm not dying. You don't need to worry that much."
And so I withdrew for a time to Fancheng in the rear, taking Yu Eun and five hundred soldiers with me. Wang Ping would temporarily take command of my unit as acting captain.
With Zhang Fei, Wang Ping, Liu Feng and the others remaining on the front line, it should be fine for me to step away for a while.