The Wei Emperor's Personal Campaign
The southern plains of Wan.
There, where Shu and Wei had already clashed twice.
Both engagements had ended in Shu's victory, yet Cao Pi, who had come leading the army in person, was determined to avenge every past defeat with his own hands.
"So long as We take the field Ourselves, defeat is impossible! Soldiers — raise your voices!"
"Waaah!"
At Cao Pi's exhortation the troops brandished spear and sword and roared their answer.
"Advance! In a single decisive battle we shall annihilate the enemy!"
The Emperor's personal golden standard snapped in the wind, and the army's spirits soared as if they would pierce the heavens. For Wei, this was the first personal campaign of their founding emperor — how could it be otherwise?
And so the great host of Wei marched south, toward the armies of Zhang Fei and Jin Cheong.
"Forward! The vanguard's two wings — charge the enemy!"
The order fell.
Wei's leading ranks formed a wedge formation, the center thrusting forward like a spear-point, and began their advance. In an instant the sky above the battlefield was hazed with dust kicked up by the cavalry.
Jin Cheong and Zhang Fei, commanding Shu's two wings, met them head-on.
"Form the square! Hold them — do not let them break through!"
Rather than sally out to intercept the oncoming enemy, the Shu army locked itself into a solid defensive formation and prepared to endure.
"Hurry — drive the wagons into place and build the wall!"
Shu employed the same wagon-square formation they had used during the defense of Jingzhou. Zhang Fei and Jin Cheong arranged their lines so that the center sat slightly recessed while both wings projected forward — a shape designed to counter the enemy's wedge.
Wei's foremost ranks slammed into the wagon wall and their advance stalled. Shu's archers and Strong Crossbow units poured arrows into the trapped Wei soldiers. Men who could neither advance nor retreat became living targets; the fallen piled higher by the moment.
Some Wei troops did manage to punch through the wagons, yet even inside the square they found Shu infantry already arrayed in ranks, and could not break that second line.
"Your Majesty! The vanguard is bogged down against Shu's wagon formation!"
Cao Pi snorted at the report.
"A square is weakest on its flanks and rear. Order Generals Cao Hong and Zhu Ling, who command the left and right armies, to wheel around at once and strike Shu's sides."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Cao Pi's next command went to Cao Hong and Zhu Ling, posted on the main force's left and right. The two generals spurred their horses toward the enemy lines at once. Their plan was to advance on a wide interval and envelop Shu from both sides simultaneously.
Wei, with its vast territories, kept ample warhorses; their cavalry outnumbered Shu's by a comfortable margin. If they could only hit both flanks, victory seemed all but assured.
But as Cao Hong's force tried to swing around Shu's right, something unexpected struck their own flank.
"With this Guan Yunchang standing here, where does Wei think it is going? You have come this far — leave your heads behind and be on your way!"
The unit that burst from the woods on the right and slammed into Cao Hong's side was none other than Guan Yu's.
"What? When did Guan Yu get this far?!"
The Green Dragon Crescent Blade flashed its keen edge, and Cao Hong's flank split open as if it had been surgically cut in two. With that astonishing breakthrough, Guan Yu severed Cao Hong's army at the waist in a single stroke.
"Wahahaha! That's my brother Yunchang for you! Fine — I'll take the lead myself! It's been too long since I stood in the van beside Brother Yunchang and swept the enemy clean!"
Zhang Fei, Serpent Spear in hand, vaulted into the saddle and charged the Wei lines at full gallop.
Of the two halves of Cao Hong's force, the lower half was pinned in place by Wu Ban's detachment; the upper half was ground to powder by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The two brothers, still at the head of their men, drove straight on toward Wei's main camp.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ling's force, attempting to break into Shu's left, was blocked by Liu Feng. He could not shatter the enemy the way Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had, but simply holding them by the ankle was more than enough — Liu Feng was doing his part.
"Your Majesty! Cao Hong and Zhu Ling, who charged left and right, have both had their paths cut by the enemy. And the enemy generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are racing straight for our left!"
Tch!
At the messenger's report Cao Pi's face twisted before he could stop it.
"What good is a reserve if it sits idle? Commit it — stop them!"
In the end Wei was forced to throw even its rear reserves into the fight. Yet even that was not enough to halt two peerless champions like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
"Is there no one left who can give this Zhang Yide a proper fight?! Ah — you there! You look like you might be worth something! Come on!"
In the middle of cutting down enemies beyond counting, Zhang Fei's eye fell on a general who looked as though he might have some strength.
"N-no! W-wait—!"
The moment Zhang Fei charged, the man scrambled in panic. Before the color had even finished draining from his face, the Serpent Spear swept sideways in a flash of light.
Crack!
"Aaaagh!"
The spear shaft in his hands snapped clean through the middle; he tumbled from the saddle and rolled a long way across the ground.
What was that? Feels like I've seen this somewhere before…
That was the thought that crossed Zhang Fei's mind as he watched the general go flying from a single thrust. He dismissed it at once and charged the next enemy.
The general's name was Xiahou Ba.
Long ago, at the Battle of Changban, he had suffered the exact same treatment at Zhang Fei's hands — though Zhang Fei himself had long since forgotten. Even if he had remembered, it would hardly have mattered.
Reserves poured in from the rear and general after general stepped forward, yet still no one could bar the two champions' path. To stop them would have required a man of Zhang Liao's caliber — and unfortunately he was still nursing wounds in his old body, not yet fit to return to the field. Xu Chu at least managed to hold Guan Yu at bay, but Wei's left had already paid a heavy price in blood.
"Commit more reserves! We still have the greater numbers!"
Desperate, Cao Pi ordered further reserves forward — but the soldiers' morale was already draining away.
"General. A large portion of Wei's reserves has been committed to the left. What remains of their reserve force cannot be much."
"I see. So even those two — Lord Guan Yu and Lord Zhang Fei — are proving too much for them."
Meanwhile, Jin Cheong, directing from the center of the Shu army, was reading the battlefield just as carefully.
Time for me to move as well.
At Yu Eun's report she acted at once.
"Wang Ping — the center is yours. Yu Eun, Gou Fu — with me!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Leaving the center in the hands of Wang Ping, Zhao Lei, and the others, she led her personal troops out to the left — the opposite side from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei — and charged the Wei lines.
Zhu Ling, still locked in combat with Liu Feng, could not hold once Jin Cheong joined the fray; his force collapsed outright.
"Charge! Destroy Wei's main army!"
Jin Cheong's troops drove straight ahead, while Liu Feng's wheeled around to strike the flank of the Wei soldiers still pinned against Shu's wagon-square.
"Your Majesty! Jin Cheong's force is attempting to break into the main camp as well! At this rate we are in danger — you must withdraw!"
Having punched through the front, Jin Cheong's troops were already advancing on Cao Pi's headquarters. Deng Zhan, face drained white, tried to get the Emperor to safety — but Cao Pi would not budge.
"Silence! We will not see Our first personal campaign ruined like this!"
"But Your Majesty — our left is already crumbling under Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and we have almost no reserves left to commit!"
Deng Zhan urged retreat a second time. Cao Pi did not flee. Instead he drew a bow from his saddle, nocked an arrow, and drew the string.
Twang!
A single straight line leapt from his fingertips and buried itself in a Shu soldier's throat. The shot was true.
"Take up your weapons! Anyone who flees will answer to Us!"
"Waaah!"
Seeing their Emperor's archery with their own eyes, the soldiers' spirits lifted — if only for a moment. Only for a moment.
Whiss! Whiss! Whissss!
Three successive cracks of air splitting — and three soldiers near Cao Pi toppled one after another. Bloodshot eyes fixed on the source of the return fire.
"Jin Cheong — that, that woman again…!"
As if answering Cao Pi's archery, Jin Cheong's three arrows in rapid succession snapped Wei's brief surge of courage clean in two. Both rate of fire and accuracy far surpassed Cao Pi's own.
Cao Pi ground his teeth. He had lost in Hanzhong — and now this as well…!
"A thousand gold to the man who brings Us Jin Cheong's head! Do not fall back! Anyone who falls back—!"
"Your Majesty — look out!"
She who had been charging straight at them loosed three more arrows — this time at Cao Pi himself. Deng Zhan stepped forward and covered the Emperor with a great shield. All three shafts thudded into the wood.
Cao Pi was unharmed — but the moment an attack reached the Emperor's very chin, Wei's morale collapsed at a catastrophic speed.
"Your Majesty! We must retreat!"
Even as Cao Pi still bellowed that they must fight on, Deng Zhan managed at last to drag him back to safety. The soldiers and officers still on the field barely shook off the pursuit and withdrew far into the distance.
What remained behind was only the victory song of the Shu army.
And so the Wei Emperor's first personal campaign — launched with such grand ambition — ended in failure.