The Battle Outside Jiangling
“Grand Commander! Xu Shu has led his troops out beyond the walls of Jiangling!”
“Very well. I understand.”
Lu Xun smiled. Everything was proceeding according to plan. The strategy and troop formations had already been fully arranged.
“Grand Commander! Let me take the lead!”
“Go, Ding Feng! Now is the time to show the full might of Eastern Wu!”
Ding Feng. From his youth he had been marked by Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, and others as a rising star — a next-generation champion of war. And now his goal was no longer merely to be a promising talent, but to become the greatest warrior Eastern Wu currently possessed.
“Move out!”
“Wah! Wah!”
Ding Feng thrust his spear toward the sky, and the soldiers answered in kind, raising their weapons high.
“I am Ding Feng of Eastern Wu! Is there no one left worth fighting? Are the men of Shu nothing but cowards?”
Ding Feng drove deep into the Shu ranks under Xu Shu’s command, bellowing his own name at the top of his lungs. As a rising champion — no, as the man who now sought to stand as Eastern Wu’s foremost warrior — there was no one in Xu Shu’s army who could bar his path.
They say Zhang Liao of Cao Wei did this at Hefei.
The Battle of Hefei. The battle in which Eastern Wu’s army had been crushed by Zhang Liao. It had happened before Ding Feng ever took the field himself, but he knew the story well enough through the telling.
It had been a humiliating defeat — an overwhelming numerical advantage reduced to utter ruin — and the generals of Eastern Wu (Sun Quan especially) still shuddered at the mere mention of it. Yet from that same tale, Ding Feng had seized upon one detail that set his heart racing.
Zhang Liao had charged at the head of his men, roaring his own name for all to hear.
Ding Feng had never lived it himself, but just hearing the story had sent a thrill through him.
There’s no law that says I can’t do the same.
He had carried that thought for a long time, and now the chance to make it real had come.
“I am Ding Feng! Ding Seungyeon! Carve my name into your memory!”
Ding Feng carved through the Shu ranks like a man possessed, his great blade whirling. A rapture he had never known before flooded his body — and yet somewhere, something still felt hollow.
Is there no one who can take a blow from my blade? Is there truly no one here worthy of being my match?
Regretting that he had never fought at Hefei, he swung his blade in every direction. Wherever he passed, blood sprayed into the air and screams hung over the field.
“Advisor Xu! The center is about to break!”
“This is bad…”
Xu Shu clenched his teeth. Even from the front lines, the momentum of the general who was driving through the center while shouting his own name was anything but ordinary.
Ding Feng, was it? Wait — if it’s Ding Feng, then surely…
Jin Cheong had mentioned that name once before. A man of formidable martial skill — if they ever crossed paths, she had said, be careful.
Careful? That hardly covers it. That man is…
Even champions like Gan Ning and Ling Tong had only been taken after being lured into traps and surrounded. But this Ding Feng’s martial prowess surpassed even theirs.
“Advisor, I will go out and stop him myself.”
“Please do, General Wang.”
Honestly, Wang Ping alone would not be enough. But there was no other choice. Among the generals present, he was still the finest they had.
Wang Ping led his unit toward the center and began to check Ding Feng’s swaggering charge.
The troops under Wang Ping were Jin Cheong’s own direct command. They did not collapse easily — yet without their true commander present, they could not bring their full fighting strength to bear.
If only General Jin Cheong were here…
Xu Shu thought back over the battlefields of the past. On every field where he had stood, great warriors had always been at his side.
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and more.
Some said the age when a single warrior’s prowess decided a battle was over — that a commander’s leadership was the true heart of warfare. Xu Shu had to reject that claim. Especially now.
His own command was not lacking. But they were outnumbered, and more than anything, they lacked generals who could ride to the front, rally the men, and personally shatter the enemy. That they had held this long with so few troops and so few officers was itself proof of how well he had led them.
Wang Ping, out there ahead, was an excellent general — but he was not the champion type.
And so the absence of Jin Cheong, whose whereabouts remained unknown, cut all the deeper. When word came that she had gone missing after saving their allies at Gong’an, Xu Shu had sent search parties in every direction. Still there was no news.
And the same for Yu Eun, Gou Fu, Ma Su, and the others — no one knew where they were.
Please… just be alive somewhere…
“Advisor! The right flank is breaking!”
In a crisis this sharp, there was no room left for sentiment. The center was still holding under Wang Ping, but the shortage of fighting strength was becoming reality.
On the right, Eastern Wu’s forces were prying open a crack in the Shu lines and driving hard toward the main army where Xu Shu stood.
“Do not panic! Rebuild the spear formation facing the enemy’s advance, then drive into them! Archers, hold in the rear ranks and loose a full volley the moment they close! Cavalry, circle wide and prepare to strike their flank!”
Even under that pressure, Xu Shu’s command never wavered. But no matter how solid a spear wall might be, reforming the ranks took time.
And the enemy general showed no intention of waiting. If the enemy crashed through before the formation was complete, it would all be over.
“Who will face Ma Zhong of Eastern Wu?!”
They were short of hands. If only there were even one general at his side who could stop that man… if only…
Clang!
Xu Shu drew his sword.
If we are short of hands, then I will use my own.
“You men — finish forming the ranks exactly as I ordered!”
“Advisor!”
With that, Xu Shu drove his heels into his horse’s flanks and charged forward. The bodyguards attending him rode hard at his side.
If there is no champion, then I will stand in that place myself.
He was a scholar, but he called up the memory of the wandering swordsman he had once been. In his youth he had trained in fencing, and even now he had never stopped practicing the sword. He might not match the savage beast rampaging at the head of the center, but an ordinary armed officer he could handle.
“Fine! You’ll do as my opponent!”
“Huh? Who the hell are you? Wait—!”
Clang!
Ma Zhong had looked down on the scholar-dressed Xu Shu — then blocked his sword stroke and wore a look of pure astonishment.
“Could you be the supreme commander? Ha! Looks like I’ll take an unexpected merit today. By nightfall, the name of Ma Zhong will shake all of Eastern Wu!”
“Do you fight with your mouth?”
Clang-clang-clang!
Their sword and blade crossed without pause. Ma Zhong’s edge was dulled by carelessness and vanity; Xu Shu’s sword, swung to save the entire army, was desperate.
In the end, the blow that decided it came from the man who struck with everything he had.
Slash!
“Ghk—!”
A long cut opened across Ma Zhong’s throat, and he tumbled from his horse. Xu Shu shook the blood from his blade and scanned the field once more.
With Ma Zhong’s death, the offensive he had led lost its force. Confirming that the main army had re-formed its ranks as ordered, Xu Shu withdrew again to the rear.
“Hold them! Hold the formation and we can stop an enemy twice our number!”
Xu Shu’s exploit had closed the crack that had briefly opened — but the overall situation was still poor. No: it was bad.
“Advisor! The center has been broken through!”
Damn it…
Wang Ping had held well, but in the end he could not stop the keen blade that was Ding Feng.
Having shattered the center, Ding Feng forced his way deep among the Shu troops and cut down every ally in reach.
Ah… so this is the end. Perhaps we should never have left the city walls at all…
At the very tip of the vanguard, Ding Feng kept roaring his own name as he tore through the field in high spirits. Wang Ping and his unit had given him some trouble when they barred his path, but it had not been enough to break his momentum.
In the end Wang Ping took up his own blade and faced him — but in pure martial skill, he was no match.
After only a few exchanges, Wang Ping’s hands and feet fell rapidly out of rhythm.
Clang!
“Kh—!”
He barely managed to catch the blade, but could not withstand the force behind it, and was thrown from his horse.
“Is there truly no one left who can trade blows with Ding Feng?!”
Ding Feng rode straight past Wang Ping, plunging deeper into the Shu ranks and raging like a madman. Wang Ping could only watch in helpless dismay.
Is this as far as I go…?
Wang Ping gritted his teeth and shook his head.
No! I made a promise to General Jin. I swore I would protect this unit and return it to her!
He snatched up his fallen sword, remounted, and threw himself back into the melee.
But even his desperate fight seemed to change nothing. The entire Shu formation was crumbling at speed, and the army’s banners toppled one after another.
Xu Shu shouted himself nearly hoarse trying to straighten the collapsing ranks, but the speed of the collapse outpaced him.
Ding Feng saw him then — Xu Shu in white scholar’s robes, still directing the Shu army.
Their eyes met.
Oho. So that one is the supreme commander, Xu Shu. Today I will cut you down and take Jiangling itself.
So this is as far as it goes… No. It cannot end like this. We have to hold a little longer…
Ding Feng set himself to charge Xu Shu.
Xu Shu crushed the hilt of his sword in his grip.
And in that instant—
“Wah! Wah!”
A clamor rose from one corner of the nearly broken Shu army. It was not the sound of collapse. It was the opposite.
Faltering feet planted firm.
Weapons that had drooped toward the earth rose and leveled at the enemy once more.
Above all, it was their eyes that changed. Eyes that had been dying on the brink of defeat kindled again, shining with fierce, vivid light.
Something is over there!
Ding Feng felt it by instinct. Something he had never faced before was there — and that something would rise before him as the greatest wall he had yet struck.
The Shu ranks parted cleanly to either side. Through the gap, a single mounted general came charging out like a storm.
The armor was worn and dust-caked, but the spear in that hand was sharp and utterly steady.
A few Wu soldiers rushed to meet the charge. The spear flashed several times, and in an instant they were down.
Who the hell are you?!
As if reading Ding Feng’s mind, the general cried out:
“I am Jin Cheong!”
On a battlefield that had rung only with the rough, heavy voices of men, that cry was strange and beautiful.
His — no, her — voice, and the Shu army answered it.
“It’s the General! The General is here!”
Feet that had been turning to flee stopped and wheeled back toward the enemy.
Fallen banners rose straight once more.
Soldiers raised their voices and charged the foe.
“General Jin Cheong is here!”
Wang Ping shouted until his throat nearly tore. The elation among her direct subordinates, especially, soared to the heavens.
The sight of her nearly brought tears to Xu Shu’s eyes.
Behind her as she hurtled toward the enemy, two generals rode in a tight triangle, and some forty soldiers pressed close at their heels.
Without a doubt — the long-missing Yu Eun and Gou Fu, and their men.
Ah, General Jin… how I have longed to see you. And Yu Eun and Gou Fu as well…!
He swallowed the feeling in a single breath and took command of the army again. He had not yet lost his sense of duty as supreme commander.
And Ding Feng, too, saw her clearly — her form, and her cry.
The nearly shattered Shu army was coming back to life, but that hardly mattered. Every time her voice rang out and her spear moved, his own fighting spirit blazed higher.
“I am Jin Cheong!”
Ding Feng swung his horse’s head away from Xu Shu and curled his lips into a grin.
Of course! At last — we cross blades.
As a boy, he had seen her once at the Red Cliffs.
The female general Zhou Yu had praised.
For ten long years he had carried the dream of matching himself against her.
“I am Ding Feng of Wu! Let’s see what you’ve got!”
Ding Feng spurred his horse and drove straight at Jin Cheong.
The two keenest weapons on that field crossed, and a clear ring of steel sang out over the battle.
Kaaang!