The Battle of Xiabian
To explain what had been happening in Hanzhong: the region had originally belonged to Zhang Lu, whose lands I had once visited as an envoy. A few years earlier, Cao Cao had struck Zhang Lu down and seized Hanzhong for himself.
After that, Cao Cao elevated himself to the rank of King and took Wei as his state name.
In other words, the Hanzhong we were now invading was the territory of Cao Cao, King of Wei.
The campaign for Hanzhong — the opening chapter of Liu Bei’s golden age.
In this battle as well, I found myself paired with Zhang Fei.
Wu Ban, who had fought alongside us at Tangqu, still served as Zhang Fei’s lieutenant. Wu Lan and Lei Tong, however, had broken away from his command to lead their own forces, and I had heard they had already set out for Xiabian.
Wu Ban seemed to have been under considerable strain at Zhang Fei’s side; when I arrived, he let out a long breath of relief.
And that once-timid soldier from before — his name was Zheng Sui — caught sight of me and offered a sheepish smile in greeting.
“Well, General. It’s truly good to see you again like this.”
“Yeah. Same here. Glad you look healthy.”
Zhang Fei’s voice was as thunderous as ever.
“A sturdy ally has joined us! But who is this here?”
“I am Yu Eun, sir. I hold the rank of Duwei and currently serve as General Jin Cheong’s deputy.”
Yu Eun, who had been standing at attention behind me, stepped forward and introduced himself.
“Ah, I’d heard you’d taken on a new deputy. One General Jin chose herself, no less. If you picked him, he must be the real thing. Broad shoulders, sharp eyes — yes, he looks every inch a fine officer.”
Watching Yu Eun stand firm and unflinching before a man as famously temperamental as Zhang Fei, the general threw back his head and laughed.
Zhang Fei had always despised the incompetent and the timid, but he never treated the capable and the steadfast poorly.
Yu Eun was resolute by nature and skilled in arms besides; at the very least, he would never find himself on the receiving end of one of Zhang Fei’s tongue-lashings.
In any case, once the greetings were done, we returned to the matter at hand.
The situation of Liu Bei’s army was as follows. Wu Lan and Lei Tong were stationed at Xiabian with their forces. Arrayed against them, Wei had dispatched the generals Cao Hong and Cao Xiu.
“Our unit will take position on the high ground near Xiabian and cut off Cao Hong’s rear when the moment comes.”
We too set out at once with our troops, following in Wu Lan and Lei Tong’s wake. Word also reached us that Ma Chao was approaching the same area at the head of his own force. Pang De, Ma Dai, and others were riding with him as his lieutenants.
The roster of generals gathering near Xiabian was a glittering one.
Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and even Pang De.
The numbers under their command, however, were far from impressive. Each unit had been allotted no more than one or two thousand men. Cao Hong’s army, by contrast, numbered over ten thousand. Even combining all our forces, we barely reached half his strength.
In short, the army at Xiabian was not our full power — it was a bait force. Liu Bei would by now be leading the main army toward Yangping Pass.
Even so, those of us who had arrived at Xiabian still had to give everything to the task assigned us. Once we reached our destination on the high ground, we raised a camp and began to discuss our next moves.
“We stay here, watch Cao Hong’s movements, and when the chance presents itself, we cut off his rear.”
I added my own counsel to Zhang Fei’s words.
“Cutting off Cao Hong’s rear may not prove so easy, General.”
“General Jin. What do you mean by that?”
In the original history, Cao Xiu had offered Cao Hong this advice:
"If the enemy truly meant to cut our road, they would march in secret with ambush troops. Yet by all reports they are flaunting their strength for all to see. That means they cannot actually carry it out. Therefore, now — before their forces can gather — is the time to strike. Hit Wu Lan hard and shatter him, and Zhang Fei and Ma Chao will flee."
Cao Hong had taken that counsel, crushed Wu Lan and Lei Tong, and forced Zhang Fei and Ma Chao to withdraw. It was a scheme worthy of the man Cao Cao himself had once praised as a thousand-li steed for our house.
I knew this. All I had to do was turn it against them.
“The enemy has already seen through the fact that we are deliberately inflating our strength.”
“Already seen through it? Why do you think so?”
“They have a capable man named Cao Xiu among them. Cao Hong might miss it — but that one would have read our empty show of force well enough. Our army is still scattered in pieces. Until we can join together, this is our moment of greatest danger.”
It was a little unfair to Cao Hong, but the truth was the truth. Still, the man who had accepted Cao Xiu’s counsel and decided to strike Wu Lan and Lei Tong at once was, without question, a general rich in real combat experience.
“Is that so? Then we must change the plan.”
Zhang Fei studied the map, lost in thought.
“They will not attack us directly while we hold the high ground. That means Wu Lan and Lei Tong, who are in the more vulnerable position, will be the target. If they fall, we become next in line for defeat in detail.”
Zhang Fei had a fiery temper, but that did not mean his mind was dull. As I had seen at Tangqu, he was a renowned general possessed of real strategic sense. Taking my advice, he reached a decision at once.
“Wu Ban!”
“Sir!”
“Remain here with three hundred men and keep up the empty show of force. All you need do is prevent the enemy from approaching.”
“Yes, sir!”
“And send a courier to General Ma Chao. Tell him the situation is critical and request that he come here at once. General Ma Chao leads a powerful cavalry force — if he joins us, it will be a considerable addition to our strength.”
“Yes, General!”
Then he turned his gaze on me.
“Jin Cheong and I will watch the enemy’s movements and stand ready to ride out and intercept them the moment they move.”
“Yes, sir!”
The plan was simple: the instant Cao Hong and Cao Xiu struck at Wu Lan and Lei Tong, we would sortie and hit them from front and rear. Our numbers might be few, but if we held a solid formation and Zhang Fei and I led from the front, we stood a fair chance of victory.
And so our army, amid all the noise and bustle, quietly honed its blades and waited for the hour to come.
“General! General Wu Lan! General Lei Tong! We’re in serious trouble!”
“What is it that has you in such a panic?!”
Wu Lan barked at the courier who had come stumbling in, his face drained so pale it was almost blue. But the words that followed left him no choice but to scramble as well.
“Disaster, sir! The Wei army is attacking! The enemy numbers ten thousand!”
“What?!”
Wu Lan and Lei Tong stared at each other in blank dismay. Had the plan been exposed? Ten thousand men was a force they could never hold alone. They were nothing more than a decoy meant to pin the enemy in place; their strength was not great.
“Send a courier to General Zhang Fei at once and request reinforcements! And get into defensive positions — quickly!”
Even as they scrambled, Wu Lan and Lei Tong prepared to meet the assault. Zhang Fei had always been a figure of dread to them — but now they could only pray that that same terror would become a blade turned against the enemy.
“Hold! Hold a little longer! We cannot break here!”
“Damn it — where are the reinforcements…?”
The sky over Xiabian was filled with the screams and war cries of battle. Yet the heavens, indifferent to the desperate struggle of Wu Lan and Lei Tong, looked down upon them without pity.
Cao Xiu’s offensive was that fierce. The disparity in numbers played its part, but the skill of his troops far exceeded anything they had imagined.
Having breached the stockade that had sheltered Wu Lan and Lei Tong’s forces, Cao Xiu’s army was now slaughtering them in earnest.
What they did not yet know was that among Cao Xiu’s ranks rode the elite of Wei — the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
What were the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry? A cavalry force named for the ferocity of tigers and leopards — Cao Cao’s proudest elite unit.
They had originally been led by Cao Chun; after his death, command had passed to Cao Xiu. Their strength was of an entirely different order from ordinary horsemen.
Common soldiers stood no chance at all, and even company officers and seasoned veterans who threw themselves into the fray rarely lasted long before they were left sprawled on the ground.
“C-could these bastards be… the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry?!”
They grasped the truth too late for it to matter. Even knowing what they faced, no plan to reverse the battle presented itself. The knowledge only deepened their despair.
There was a limit to how long men could hold on by sheer will alone. To keep standing here meant, quite literally, the death of every last one of them — total annihilation.
“It’s no use. Prepare to withdraw, all of—”
“General! Reinforcements! The reinforcements have arrived!”
Just as Wu Lan was about to give the order to retreat, a soldier who had climbed the watchtower began leaping up and down, shouting for joy.
“What?! Whose troops are they?!”
It was not the soldier who answered him.
“Hold fast, all of you! Zhang Fei of Yan is here! You Cao dogs — prepare yourselves!”
“Ah — at last!”
Wu Lan was so glad he nearly wept. That roar, which had always filled him with nothing but dread, was this once the most welcome sound in the world. And its effect was not limited to him alone. It poured fresh life into a force that had been on the verge of collapse.
“General Zhang Fei has come!”
“We’re saved!”
Feet that had been falling back stopped. Spears rose straight once more. From mouths that had been groaning in despair, battle cries burst forth.
Upon the enemy, the effect was precisely the opposite.
They remembered the fierce general who had held them at bay single-handed at Changban.
“If any man among you can stop this Zhang Fei’s serpent spear — step forward!”
And at his side rode another who had likewise distinguished herself at Changban: Jin Cheong.
Zhang Fei, and Jin Cheong. The spears of Changban’s two fierce generals drove into the back of Cao Xiu’s army.