Even When I Wasn't There
Even when I wasn't there—
Clash! Clash!
Two weapons, swift and fierce, crossed dozens of times. Neither side claimed victory.
A perfect stalemate, tipping neither way. Amid the chaos of battle, their duel was something beyond a mere fierce exchange—something no one else could dare interrupt.
Clang!
After one tremendous collision, the two pulled apart for a moment, catching their breath.
"First time we've met since Red Cliffs, isn't it? I've heard plenty of your reputation. Just as the rumors said—your skill is extraordinary."
For a moment, memories of Red Cliffs rose to the surface. A ten-year-old boy had met a thirteen-year-old girl, and after more than a decade, they faced each other again as grown warriors.
It was hardly a joyful reunion—yet in another sense, it was a thrilling one.
Jin Cheong answered Ding Feng's words.
"As are you."
"?"
Her reply left Ding Feng thinking something didn't quite add up.
As am I? What is?
Jin Cheong was already a general of widespread renown, but Ding Feng was not. He was still virtually an unknown—a warrior who had scarcely taken the field. This battlefield was, for all practical purposes, the first stage on which his name would truly take flight.
That was one of the reasons the Shu forces had been driven into such a corner. They could not have known about Ding Feng, still obscure as he was—least of all the depth of his skill and martial arts.
And yet Jin Cheong spoke as if she already knew exactly what he was capable of.
What does it matter?
The question flickered through his mind, then he dismissed it as nothing of consequence.
He had seen her only once at Red Cliffs, yet he had always imagined meeting her again someday on the field of war. Now that imagination had become reality—what did a little puzzle matter beside that?
"Again!"
Burning with fighting spirit, Ding Feng charged once more, and Jin Cheong answered with her spear.
As the two of them fought a contest so evenly matched it was like walking on thin ice, the Shu and Wu armies likewise locked in a struggle so balanced that neither side could force a decision.
"Why? Why won't the enemy break?"
Only moments earlier, Lu Xun had believed he held the advantage. He had put his trust in Ding Feng at the vanguard, ordered the assault, and Ding Feng had answered that expectation almost perfectly—until just now.
"Grand Commander! According to what we've learned, Jin Cheong has returned to the enemy ranks."
"What?"
The adjutant he had sent to assess the situation returned with the report, and Lu Xun echoed it in shock. With Jin Cheong's arrival, the Shu army's morale had visibly recovered.
Jin Cheong again. That one.
Should he have pursued her no matter the cost and finished her off?
It was a regret, but it was already past. Lu Xun forced himself to focus on the present.
"Enough. Even if the battle doesn't tip either way, we keep pressing them. By now Zhang Qin and Pan Zhang should be hammering Jiangling with a full assault."
Simply pinning the enemy here would be enough. With the main force gone from Jiangling, taking the city was hardly impossible.
Even if he could not decide the fight here, once Jiangling fell the enemy would have nowhere left to turn. That was how Lu Xun saw it.
"Grand Commander! Grand Commander! An urgent dispatch from General Pan Zhang!"
"Good. What of Jiangling? Report at once!"
Lu Xun brightened at the messenger he had been waiting for. If the city had been taken, the battle unfolding before his eyes would mean nothing.
But the messenger's words betrayed that hope.
"The Shu general Zhang Fei appeared and struck our flank in a surprise attack. As a result, the subordinate officer Xianyu Dan is dead, and Generals Zhang Qin and Pan Zhang have pulled their forces back to regroup."
"What…?"
Jin Cheong, and now Zhang Fei?
For Lu Xun, it was enough to leave him speechless. A situation that had looked so promising only moments before had flipped over like a hand turned palm-up.
The state of Jiangling was as follows.
Zhang Qin and Pan Zhang had, as planned, launched a fierce assault on the city. Jiangling was a vast and formidable fortress, but with both troops and generals in short supply, the Shu forces holding out inside had been hard-pressed—Liu Shan's personal guard captain, Guo Yi, had even been forced to join the wall defense.
Then Zhang Fei's army appeared and saved Jiangling. Arriving like the wind, Zhang Fei smashed into Zhang Qin's flank, and Zhang Qin's forces were broken through on the spot.
There was a reason he was called a match for ten thousand men. In an instant Zhang Fei drove all the way to the main standard, ran Xianyu Dan through with his serpent spear, and sent Zhang Qin fleeing.
On top of that, Shu troops poured out from Jiangling itself to press the attack, leaving Pan Zhang, Zhang Qin, and the rest no choice but to gather what remained of their forces and fall back.
"Grand Commander. What are your orders?"
A decision had to be made. If the full-scale battle continued like this, they risked being caught between the Shu forces coming out of Jiangling. If they were going to withdraw, it had to be now.
"No choice. Withdraw."
Ordering the retreat, Lu Xun felt as if a thorn had lodged in his throat. He had only just sent Gu Yong those hopeful words…
"General Jin!"
"General Jin! You're safe! Gou Fu as well!"
"Advisor Xu! Wang Ping!"
Having finally made it back to Jiangling, I was able to reunite with the faces I had missed so dearly. I had fretted endlessly over what would happen if the city fell to the enemy. I was grateful to those who had held it through such difficult circumstances.
I also shared the joy of reunion with Yu Eun and Gou Fu, who had been separated from me for quite some time as they followed my trail.
"But what about Master Ma Su? Did you meet him as well?"
"We ran into Master Ma Su on the way. He should be inside Jiangling now."
As a civil official, Ma Su had not taken part in the fighting; instead he had gone ahead to carry word of our return into the city. The judgment was that announcing our arrival would lift morale.
"You came back at exactly the right moment. We survived thanks to you."
"Advisor Xu—thank you for holding the city so well."
"It was all thanks to you, General Jin. In any case, you must have suffered greatly out there. Come—let us return to the city at once."
Truth be told, after days of being chased without a proper chance to wash, I looked a complete mess. Still, we had achieved our purpose of holding the city, and the fatigue piled up over all that time seemed to wash away.
I returned to the city with Xu Shu, sharing everything that had happened along the way.
"General Zhang!"
"Hey! General Jin. Good to see you again. But…?"
Zhang Fei took one look at my ragged appearance and his eyes went round.
"Well, the truth is…"
I gave him a brief account of everything that had happened, and Zhang Fei clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk. That must've been one hell of an ordeal. Go on in and rest for now. I've got troop placements to sort out, so we'll talk properly later."
"Yes, General."
The moment Zhang Fei heard Jingzhou was under attack, he had raced here from Ba as fast as he could. He had cut down the enemy and saved the city.
With him here, it felt as if we had gained an army of a thousand. I could finally set down one of the weights on my mind.
I returned to the residence where I had been staying, washed, and changed into light everyday clothes.
After filling my empty stomach with my subordinates, Liu Shan came scampering over and began leading me somewhere.
"General! General! Come look over here. There's something I want to show you."
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"You'll know when you see it!"
Curious about what it could be, I followed him.
"Here."
Here? It was the official quarters Wang Ping used.
"Look at this."
Stepping inside, Liu Shan pointed to a desk. A pile of bamboo slips was stacked upon it.
"You want me to look at these?"
"Yes!"
I picked up one of the slips and unrolled it.
"This is…?"
Crooked characters filled it from end to end. They were hard to make out clearly, but it seemed to be a kind of log—a record of how my unit had been operated all this time.
On such-and-such a month and day, how much grain and equipment the unit had consumed.
After a battle, how much damage had been taken and what support had been received.
How many soldiers had been posted where, and which duties they had been assigned to, and so on.
Looking at these, I could see how my unit had moved in my absence.
"Did someone…?"
"Yes—General Wang Ping wrote them."
Wang Ping had written all of this?
I had heard he was receiving treatment for the wounds Ding Feng had given him. That was probably why Liu Shan had brought me here in his place.
From what I was told, while I was gone Wang Ping had struggled every day to keep writing these logs.
"I saw General Wang Ping holding these and fretting over them a great deal."
Of course he would. He had only learned to write a short while ago. I remembered teaching him letters for a time back in Xiangyong. He must have recalled me keeping unit logs and decided to write them in my stead.
"So I said, 'Shall I write them for you?' But he said no. He said General Jin Cheong had entrusted the army to him, so he had to write them himself. So I helped him from the side."
"Ah. I see. Well done. You've done something truly important."
"You taught me to think about what kind of help I could give other people, General. You said even a small effort can still be of use."
Wang Ping had thrown himself into his duties from morning to night, and in every spare moment he had kept writing these bamboo slips. Beside him, Liu Shan had shown him how the characters should be formed.
But Liu Shan was not familiar with military terminology, so in the end Guo Yi had lent a hand as well. Thanks to that, Liu Shan had picked up a fair amount of military language himself. Whether he would ever command an army directly was another matter—
"Well then, General. You must be exhausted—go in and rest."
"Yes. Your Highness should rest comfortably as well."
With that, Liu Shan scampered off again.
After he left, I sat down and read through Wang Ping's bamboo slips one by one, in order. The characters were rough and the grammar often wrong, but that only made it easier to feel the spirit in which he had written them.
And Liu Shan, too.
He still showed no particularly outstanding qualities—but the simple fact that he had readily offered a helping hand to someone who needed it was already something to be proud of.
Come to think of it, I had heard he had also given permission for his guard captain Guo Yi to join the wall defense—saying there were places that needed greater help right then.
As long as no sycophants were allowed to run wild at his side, he might well become a fine ruler.
Even when I wasn't there, everyone had been working this hard.
I was exhausted, but I did not go to bed until I had read every last one of those bamboo slips.