The Battle of Nanjun (3)
"Yu Jin!"
Cao Ren's voice rang out from behind, trying to hold him back — but Yu Jin did not stop. This insolent little girl...!
The moment he heard her voice and saw her face, a dormant volcano of rage erupted within him, boiling up all at once.
Clang!
His crescent blade, swung with every ounce of strength he possessed, was stopped cold by her spear. He recovered the weapon at once and poured a fresh barrage of strikes upon her.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
When even those successive attacks were effortlessly parried, Yu Jin's frustration began to burn even hotter.
"You little bitch...! You insolent wench — if I don't take your head today, I'm no man!"
He swung the heavy crescent blade this way and that, cursing as he struck, yet with the lightest of movements she rendered every full-powered blow of his completely futile. His wide arcs demanded enormous strength and drained his stamina severely, but she expended only the precise force required — deflecting each attack or letting it glance harmlessly aside.
As time wore on he snorted and panted, sweat pouring down his face, yet her expression remained serene. She barely reacted to his curses, offering only a single snort of laughter.
Yu Jin thought he understood why he was so agitated.
It had been the same at their first encounter. He had charged at her red-faced with fury, yet she had worn no expression at all — as if she were simply taking a meal on a raised platform. Even as she speared his shoulder and unhorsed him. Even as he barely escaped with the help of his subordinate soldiers — her face had scarcely changed.
Is she saying she still isn't giving her all? That someone like me can be disposed of whenever she pleases?
His impatience bred delusions, and those delusions only fueled greater agitation — and exposed openings.
"You—!"
He raised the crescent blade high overhead, but put so much force into it that he left himself wide open.
In that brief instant, the tip of her spear drove into his chest.
Her thrust was so swift that Yu Jin only belatedly realized he had taken a mortal wound. By the time he understood, his chest was already stained crimson. The spear was yanked free with a wet sound, and blood sprayed. As she withdrew it, she seemed to wear a faintly bitter smile — though he could not be certain.
His body fell to the earth along with his beloved crescent blade. He heard the screams of his subordinate soldiers, but what had come for him this time was a death from which there would be no rescue.
First, try to rein in that temper of yours.
Before his eyes closed, Cao Ren's counsel suddenly floated into his mind. Perhaps what had killed him was nothing other than his own temper...
"General Yu Jin has fallen!"
"Waaaaah!"
The death of a single general sent no small shock through both sides. One army groaned; the other roared.
"General Cao Ren! Wu's forces have closed in from behind!"
To make matters worse, the pursuing Wu army was already striking at Cao Ren's rear.
"Stay calm! If the enemy clings to our heels, we simply shake them off. Advance all the faster and throw them free! Do not look back. The only path to life lies ahead!"
Cao Ren shouted as he shattered every spear flying toward his face. Right beside him, Xu Huang swung his axe and mercilessly split the skull of a man who barred their way. Directly behind, Zhu Ling, Cao Hong, and the others desperately carved a path forward.
There was no time to mourn Yu Jin. Cao Ren had a duty to lead the remaining generals and soldiers to safety. The troops who still remembered his valor from the early days of the Jiangling campaign pressed on under his renown and command, advancing and advancing without breaking.
If we can only break through Guan Yu's army, we can escape.
Guan Yu's forces, for their part, were hardly in an enviable position — caught between Li Tong's army and Cao Ren's in a pincer. Li Tong, in particular, cut an impressive figure, fighting on with fierce courage even after taking an arrow to the leg from Jin Cheong.
"Break through the enemy! We must join General Cao Ren!"
Wherever his blade passed, screams and blood followed. It was the martial prowess of a true fierce general.
Yet not far away stood a man whose prowess surpassed even that. With every sweep of his weapon, the air split and enemy heads tumbled to the ground.
"I, Guan Yunchang, shall face you myself!"
Guan Yu stepped forward, Green Dragon Crescent Blade in hand, cutting down foes left and right. Dozens of enemy heads already littered the ground around him.
"So you are the famed Guan Yunchang. Receive the blade of Li Wenda!"
The two fierce generals' horses crossed once, and their weapons clashed.
Clang!
It was only a single exchange, yet the impact rang so loud that nearby soldiers flinched and turned to look.
"Kh."
That one collision was enough to reveal where the advantage lay. Li Tong nearly dropped his sword; Guan Yu remained perfectly composed.
Grimacing, Li Tong raised his blade and charged at Guan Yu once more. Their horses crossed again, and sparks flew between them a dozen times more.
Hampered by his leg wound and struggling to control his mount, Li Tong found Guan Yu bearing down on him like a bolt of lightning.
"Ah!?"
As the Green Dragon Crescent Blade swept toward his head, Li Tong raised his sword to block.
Clang!
"Urgh..."
He managed to stop it, but the blow was so overwhelming that a crack spidered across his blade, and his horse groaned and nearly collapsed. Then the arrow wound in his leg burst open afresh, spraying blood.
Li Tong scowled and tried to steady his broken stance — but the Green Dragon Crescent Blade moved faster.
Slash!
The blade swept sideways once, and Li Tong's head flew into the sky. Such was the end of the fierce general who had led the charge to break the encirclement with his own hands.
Yet in that same span, Cao Ren's army had nearly punched through Guan Yu's cordon and was on the verge of linking up with Li Tong's remaining forces. Their commander was dead, but Li Tong's men still fought on.
At this rate, they'll break through.
While Jin Cheong had been locked in a life-or-death duel with the charging Yu Jin, Cao Ren's army had stubbornly forced its breakthrough. Liao Hua was fighting with everything he had, but the troops under his command were few, and stopping a charge led by fierce generals like Cao Ren and Xu Huang looked nearly impossible.
Jin Cheong calculated the enemy's movements and made her decision. She returned to the center of her formation and issued an order to the archers.
"Ready your bows."
The archer corps prepared for a massed volley, and she herself drew a single arrow.
Strike their flank before they fully pass.
The archers finished their preparations. Cao Ren's army, having broken through Liao Hua's square formation, drove straight ahead — but she did not give the order to fire just yet.
"Not yet. Hold. Hold."
She calmly tracked the enemy's movement. The moment Cao Ren's and Li Tong's forces merged, their density spiked, and their advance stalled —
"Open fire!"
The archer corps loosed as one, but Jin Cheong held her own nocked arrow and waited.
Arrows flew like a gale into the enemy's flank. In that brief instant, scores of soldiers struck from the side toppled in droves.
"Ignore it and keep advancing! We're almost through!"
As one pillar of the Wei army crumbled, she spotted him — a general whirling a massive axe like a windmill as he directed his men.
That one!
Without a second thought she loosed the arrow. It punched clean through his side.
"Gah!"
With a death cry, his horse rolled to the ground and he was thrown from the saddle.
"General Cao Ren! General Xu Huang has been unhorsed!"
"What!"
Cao Ren looked back and saw Xu Huang fallen behind.
"Damn it! We can't leave him! Go back and —"
"You must not! It is regrettable, but there is no choice."
"If we turn back now, we will lose our chance to break through."
"..."
Cao Hong and Zhu Ling restrained him in turn. Having lost three generals in this battle, Cao Ren could not suppress the bitter anguish in his heart.
"...General. We cannot let their deaths be in vain..."
"I know. All of you — do not stop moving!"
Li Tong and Yu Jin had fallen in single combat with enemy champions — which, looked at another way, meant they had held those enemy champions in place for a time. At the cost of several generals' lives, Cao Ren's army finally managed to lead its remaining strength north and escape.
A half-success, then...
Watching the traces of the enemy who had finally broken the northern road and fled, I clicked my tongue. They would have withdrawn into Xiangyang, no doubt.
It was not as though we had nothing to show for it. We had killed two generals in this battle — Yu Jin and Li Tong.
And the greatest prize of the day.
"Xu Gongming. How long has it been..."
"Ahem. Lord Guan..."
Xu Huang, now our captive, stood face to face with Guan Yu. The two of them had been close for a long time.
"You there. Untie his ropes. We must treat his wounds first."
"Ahem. Cough, cough. What needless kindness for a defeated general. Just cleanly take my head..."
The wound I had dealt him seemed worse than expected; blood was running from the corner of Xu Huang's mouth. And he had been thrown from a galloping horse on top of it — it might well prove fatal.
Guan Yu himself supported Xu Huang and led him into the tent.
Guan Yu was grieved by Xu Huang's injuries now, but he did not yet know. He did not know that Xu Huang would one day defeat him at Fancheng and deal a decisive blow to his fate.
Guan Yu. You have to live, no matter what.
We had taken Xu Huang, but a giant like Cao Ren had escaped with his life. In the end, was Cao Ren still fated to stand against Guan Yu at Fancheng in the years to come?