The Bloody Path
Seen from the heavens, the battlefield looked like this.
A vast host gathered into a single black mass, like some enormous clump of flesh.
And through that mass, a force racing at full gallop — a single thin line of steel.
The two armies collided. That slender line split the great mass clean apart.
Leaving a long, whip-like scar across the clump, the line tore free and veered off in another direction.
But the mass was not finished. Drawing on its sheer bulk and resilience, it began at once to close the rupture, gathering itself to surge outward again.
And it was not alone.
Another mass came charging straight on, intent on meeting the line head-on.
So the battlefield took shape: one thin line, and several great masses hurtling toward it from every side.
"General! Another one coming!"
The soldier Zheng Sui shouted to the general he so deeply revered.
"Hah."
Jin Cheong shook the blood from her spear blade, fixed her eyes on the enemy force thundering toward them, and called out to her men.
"We go again! The lives of every ally on this field hang on our hands! Are you all ready?!"
She had no need to look back. Even without turning, she knew her trusted lieutenant and her loyal soldiers stood right behind her. Of that she had not the slightest doubt.
And they did not betray that trust.
"Yes!"
Yu Eun answered short and sharp, bloodshot eyes locked on the front.
"Just give the order!"
Zheng Sui bellowed until his throat nearly tore, jaw clenched so hard it trembled.
The rest of the soldiers thrust their weapons skyward and roared with everything they had.
"Then we go again!"
"Waaaaah!"
The sharpest spear on the field launched itself once more at the great mass — as keen and unblunted as it had been at the first clash of the day.
Before impact, Jin Cheong drew her bow. She nocked two arrows, aimed at the enemy racing straight at her, and loosed.
Whish! Whish!
Two men dropped almost as one, and a small wound opened in the mass. In the instant before collision she seized her spear again, drove through that wound, stabbed and smashed and tore it wider still.
Her men poured in behind her, gouging deeper into the gash she had made, and once more they split the black mass and burst out the far side.
As she broke free, Jin Cheong sent arrows flying behind her. Several enemy soldiers on her diagonal rear collapsed, blood spraying from throat and chest.
So she fought — switching freely between spear and bow even atop a horse that never stopped pitching and rolling — forcing the enemy to bleed without rest.
Those who resolve to die shall live.
Those who hope to live shall die.
A saying often quoted when men speak of war — and one far harder to live by than to recite.
Yet Jin Cheong and her soldiers were living it almost perfectly.
It was the sum of her valor, the virtue she had built over years, and the will and loyalty of the men who followed her.
And so, once again, they achieved a breakthrough that bordered on the miraculous.
"After them! They are few!"
The Wu army refused to give up and kept coming, but Jin Cheong and her men dove into the enemy ranks and clawed free again and again.
Some of their own fell along the way — yet for every one they lost, several times that number of the enemy went down.
At last the Wu force lost its nerve and no longer dared to charge. Judging that she had bought enough time, Jin Cheong seized the opening and slipped off the field.
It had looked like reckless charging, but she had been toying with the Wu army along the thinnest edge of their encirclement, never allowing herself to be fully surrounded. That was what made escape possible.
"Grand Commander. I have no face left to show you. We let them slip away after all. The enemy main force broke free of this place and headed north. Toward Jiangling, most likely…"
"Damn it… Then what of Jin Cheong? Did that one go north as well?"
"No, sir. That one took a handful of troops and fled the opposite way — south."
Lu Xun's face hardened at the report.
What in the world is this person? We cannot leave her be. If we do, she will become a great calamity.
The fall of Gong'an had been their first real success since the war began. And the moment they claimed it, someone had thrown cold water over the triumph. A sense of foreboding settled on Lu Xun, and he gave his orders.
"Block every road from here to Jiangling. And form a pursuit force at once — go after that one. Capture or kill, it makes no difference. We settle this now, while we have the chance."
"Yes, sir!"
If she had taken only a few soldiers with her, this was the perfect opportunity to deal with her for good.
"General. It's no good. Wu troops have sealed this route as well."
"Damn… Nothing for it. We turn back."
I had tried to shake the enemy and make for Jiangling, but the Wu pursuit was more tenacious than I had expected.
Hunting for the thinnest point in the encirclement had finally forced us south — the opposite direction from our own army.
At my side I had only Yu Eun and a little more than ten soldiers left. It tore at me. Every one of them was mine.
"Haa…"
I sighed, and Yu Eun offered what comfort he could.
"General, do not worry so much. We will make it back safely."
"Yes. We will…"
I wanted nothing more than to ride straight for Jiangling, but dodging the relentless pursuit had cost us the road home — and that was the real problem.
Whenever we tried to push north, Wu soldiers appeared. The enemy was clearly hell-bent on taking me.
I had almost never set foot in southern Jingzhou, and Yu Eun and the rest were nearly all Yi Province men. No one among us knew the land well.
The one mercy was that I had ordered them to carry provisions in advance. The stores were small, but they would keep us going for a few days.
Even that, though, was nearly gone — and that was the greater problem. Foraging fruit along the road could only stretch so far.
In the end we had no choice but to stop at farmhouses we passed and ask for food.
"Ah — forgive us, but if you could spare something to eat… We will pay with what coin we have."
Ugh. What a state we were in…
A woman of about forty came out and her eyes went round.
"Good heavens. A pretty young lady like you, wandering around hungry…? Wait — looking at those clothes, you're soldiers, aren't you? Hold on. Could you be that female general people talk about?! Husband! Husband! Come out here!"
Yu Eun glanced at me with a little grin.
"Even out here, General, your fame precedes you."
"Does it?"
I was surprised anyone in a place this remote would know me. Yu Eun seemed more surprised that I was surprised.
"Is there anyone else in this world like you, General? Haha."
At any rate, the people were kind to us, and we managed to gather a modest amount of food.
The middle-aged farm couple gushed over me like girlhood admirers, squealing and chattering until I was thoroughly flustered.
"Here — take this. No, no, you don't need to pay…"
"I insist. I would feel worse taking it free. Please accept it."
I had not realized I was quite this well-known. Still a little dazed, I paid them and took the food.
"We won't tell a soul. Hurry on your way."
"Thank you. All right — we move."
There was a bright side to it, but I could not help worrying that the pursuit force might come down hard on these people for helping us.
The other way to find food was hunting. Spotting game was harder than one might think, but it was not impossible either. The time I had spent hunting with Lady Sun proved more useful than I expected.
At night I roasted whatever mountain or field beasts we took and shared them with the soldiers. We piled whatever we could find around the fire to hide the light as much as possible before we lit it and cooked the meat.
We could have cooked by day, but I had heard that even if the flames stayed hidden, the smoke would give us away more easily.
And so my party and I kept up our little flight without, at least, going hungry.
How many more days did we wander after that? We had fled so deep into southern Jingzhou to escape pursuit that getting back to Jiangling had become a serious problem.
"General. People approaching from that direction."
Zheng Sui, beside me, pointed and spoke.
"What? Pursuit again? Hide — now."
Roughly ten figures were coming our way.
I ducked into the brush with the soldiers at once.
Have the enemy chased us this far?
But watching from cover, they did not look like the enemy. For one thing, there were far too few of them.
The party was a single man in civil official's robes and a handful of soldiers. Wait — that official looked familiar.
Ma Su?
Someone I knew. It had been a long time, but there was no mistaking him. I had not expected to be this glad to see him.
"Lord Ma Su!"
"Eh? General Jin Cheong? What are you doing out here…?"
I ran forward in pure relief and called out. His eyes went wide as saucers.
"I knew it was you, Lord Ma Su! We've been on the run. You came looking for us, didn't you?"
"No — I'm being chased myself."