Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Zhang Liao Has Arrived
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The ground roared.
"Rooooaaar!!"
"Just over that ridge is Bing Province!!"
The battle cries and pounding footsteps of thousands—no, nearly ten thousand—Black Mountain Bandits were swallowing the valley like a tidal wave.
"B-Brother... th-that's way too many, isn't it? Even if the terrain here is great for defense..."
Wei Sok's voice trembled more than usual from beside me.
"Eek!"
"W-What the hell is that number?"
"We only have five hundred... and we're supposed to stop that?"
Fear shadowed the faces of the soldiers who had been drunk on victory just moments ago. It was only natural.
Blocking ten thousand bandits with five hundred men was no easy task. But it didn't matter.
As long as I took all that terror head-on at the front.
"Don't break formation."
The soldiers' shoulders twitched at my low voice, gripped by fear.
"Hold the barricades. Don't let a single one cross this valley."
I said no more. I gripped my spear tighter and charged forward.
Alone—
"B-Brother!"
"Officer!"
I ignored the desperate cries from behind. I vaulted over the barricade, descended the hill, and surged against that massive black wave.
The first ones I collided with didn't even have time to become corpses.
—Kwachang!
They simply burst into a red mist.
"Gaaah!"
"W-What the hell is this guy?!"
"Rush him!"
Every time my spear traced its arc, space itself tore apart.
Their crude blades, sturdy shields, even the heads of the horses they rode—nothing meant anything before my spear.
"Grrraaah!"
"Th-This mad bastard all by himself...!"
A massive hole ripped open in the center of their formation. They swarmed from all sides to kill me, but the red river only widened with every assault.
All those trembling fools up on the hill watched the spectacle.
Wei Sok's jaw hung slack, refusing to close. Cheng Lian and Wei Yue's eyes held awe beyond mere fear.
"...Did you see that?"
Wei Sok asked a nearby soldier, nearly in tears.
"Did you see that, you bastards?! That's our brother!"
Wei Sok roared, tears flying as he bellowed.
"Whole army! Charge!!!!"
"Shut up and hold your positions at the barricades."
"Huh? Brother?"
I had already torn through the enemy ranks and returned to the hill. Stepping over dozens of their corpses.
The confused foes were regrouping and charging back at us.
"Hold the barricades."
My repeated command was no mere order. I aimed my spear through the gaps in the broken barricades toward the enemy.
"Behold."
I murmured softly toward the surging black wave.
"Those are nothing but a rabble."
—Shwaak!
No sooner had the words left my mouth than I swung my spear wide. The first six or seven clinging to the barricades were cleaved in two at the waist.
"Woooaaah!!"
Fire reignited in the soldiers' eyes at the sight.
"Hold the line! The Officer fights with us!"
"If we break, we're all dead! Take down one more before you go!"
And so the long, grueling defense battle began.
"Kill him! Kill that monster!"
"Push! Just get over those barricades!"
The bandits no longer focused solely on me.
They began burrowing through every gap in the shattered barricades. The defensive line turned into a chaotic melee of blood and flesh.
"Kahaha! You bastards! As long as this Wei Sok's here, you ain't getting past!"
Wei Sok swung his sword, decapitating Black Mountain Bandits left and right, bellowing at every opportunity to keep our troops' morale up.
"Hey! Dammit! Don't fall back! Hold! Third row! Thrust through the gaps! Archers, aim farther back!"
"Front line! Switch formations!! I can see you're exhausted!! You lot in the rear, get up front now!"
Cheng Lian and Wei Yue, true to their former bandit chief roots, calmly commanded the front, plugging every hole that opened.
"Hah... hah..."
"N-No end to them..."
"M-My arms..."
But as the battle dragged on, the sheer numerical disadvantage was unavoidable.
Our men grew exhausted, casualties mounted, and the line began to fall back bit by bit.
Even Wei Sok staggered, gasping for breath.
"Hah... hah... Brother! There's no end to them!"
"Kill one more instead of flapping your mouth!"
"O-Officer! Over there!!"
"Damn it..."
Finally, one section of the barricade collapsed completely, and dozens of Black Mountain Bandits poured through.
We could no longer afford to drag this out.
'Zhang Liao... now it's your turn!'
To hold the crumbling formation, I plunged back into the enemy ranks, slaughtering them while firing a signal flare from my bosom toward the sky.
—Pheeeeeew!!
The shrill sound pierced the battlefield.
That was the signal.
From far behind the Black Mountain Bandits' rear, a earth-shaking rumble accompanied black-clad cavalry charging forth.
"W-What the hell are those guys?!"
"They're not ours! Enemies! Enemies!"
Their rear turned to pandemonium in an instant. And at the vanguard fluttered a familiar banner, with a wildly rampaging man.
"Zhang Liao has arrived!"
Zhang Liao's shout shook the field. The cavalry formed a wedge and charged straight for the bandits' heart.
"Woooaaah! Reinforcements are here!"
Cheers erupted from our despairing soldiers.
Zhang Liao stared fixedly ahead from his mount, utterly motionless.
Behind him, the cavalry held their horses' mouths muzzled, merged with the shadows, holding their breath.
The horrific screams and clashing metal echoing from the distant gorge told him how desperately our forces were fighting.
"Deputy... not yet?"
His adjutant asked anxiously, but Zhang Liao didn't answer. All his focus was on one thing alone: the sky.
'The Officer... is still holding.'
That monstrous man could hold out. And he'd send the signal at the perfect moment.
Trust and wait. That was all he had to do now.
It was then.
—Pheeeeeew!!
A shrill signal flare sliced through the battle cries and rent the sky.
The promised signal.
Zhang Liao quietly adjusted his helmet and drew his sword from his waist. In a low voice that reached every cavalryman, he commanded.
"The rats are thrashing in the trap. Now we snap their necks."
Zhang Liao wheeled his horse out of the woods and roared toward the battlefield.
"Zhang Liao has arrived!"
At his cry, the cavalry's hooves thundered as they surged toward the Black Mountain Bandits' rear.
The Black Mountain Bandits' chieftain, Sarye, was certain of victory.
"Push! They're at their limit! Kill that monster and it's over!"
The barricades were already crumbling, and the enemy's numbers had halved. That lone mad monster was holding, but it was only a matter of time.
But just as Sarye opened his mouth for the victory cry, a rumbling roar came from behind.
"W-What the hell are those?!"
"They're not ours! Enemies! Enemies!"
The bandits' rear became hell in seconds. And leading that hell was a wildly charging man on horseback.
"Zhang Liao has arrived!"
Zhang Liao's cavalry tore into the bandits' rear formation like a sharp wedge.
Zhang Liao left the small fry to his men and charged straight for one place: the center where Sarye's banner flew.
"Who the hell are you?!"
Sarye swung his sword in shock. But Zhang Liao's blade was faster.
—Shwaak!
In a flash of light, Sarye's head flew into the air and hit the ground.
Zhang Liao snatched the falling head by the hair from his saddle and thrust it high, shouting.
"I've taken the head of enemy commander Sarye! All who don't surrender will die!"
"H-Hiiik!"
"The b-boss in one exchange!?"
"The b-boss! He's dead!!"
With Zhang Liao's shout, the bandits' momentum shattered. Leaderless, they scattered in terror.
And the moment Sarye died, massive cheers erupted from all sides.
"Woooaaah!!"
Finally, He Jin's main force of nine thousand completed the encirclement and charged at the Black Mountain Bandits.
The bandits were trapped on all sides.
A monster guarded the gorge ahead, unbreached. Behind, the mad cavalry that beheaded their chief slaughtered them. And from both flanks, the punitive army rushed to annihilate them.
Perfectly caught in the trap.
Realizing there was no escape, the Black Mountain Bandits began dropping their weapons one by one, kneeling on the ground to save their lives.
"We surrender! We surrender!"
"Spare us!"
As all the Black Mountain Bandits discarded their arms and knelt, the Battle of Henan drew to a close.
Luoyang, the heart of the realm.
In Chief Attendant Zhang Yang's chambers deep within the imperial palace, his face was grim as chewed shit, contrasting the opulent luxuries filling the room.
"You useless pig bastards!"
—Crack!
Zhang Yang snapped the bamboo slips in his hand in two and hurled them to the floor.
Before him towered defeat reports from the punitive forces clashing with the Yellow Turbans' main strength in Yan Province and Yu Province.
"I took how much money to seat you lot, and you can't even suppress a bunch of peasant rebels?!"
The reports all said the same thing.
Routed, crushed, annihilated.
The so-called Turbid Stream Faction generals, who had bribed him massively to become generals, were being swept away like fallen leaves before the Yellow Turbans' momentum.
If this continued, not only their rice bowls but the emperor's wrath could cost them their heads.
"Goddamn it...!"
Zhang Yang reluctantly reached a conclusion.
'No choice but to use those stubborn Pure Stream Faction bastards to hold the line.'
But that was like drinking poison.
Promoting only Pure Stream men would let their faction grow too strong after suppressing the rebellion, threatening them.
'I need a check. A new blade to check the Pure Streamers, stand out with merit, and divide their power...'
Zhang Yang rummaged through the bamboo slips of personnel evaluations on his shelf. His finger stopped at one name.
—Xiapi Chancellor Sun Jian.
The slips detailed Sun Jian's merits suppressing numerous border rebellions. Zhang Yang murmured in satisfaction.
"Hm, this level of skill and still just a county chancellor... he'll make a fine hound. Someone will recommend him soon enough."
As Zhang Yang memorized Sun Jian's name, an eunuch rushed in, gasping for breath, to report.
"Ch-Chief Attendant, sir! Urgent news from Henan! Henan Inspector He Jin, not even a month after deploying, has crushed the Black Mountain Bandits in one stroke!"
"What? That mongrel has military talent to wipe them out in a month? It must be fake!"
"B-But sir! The report says... He Jin did little; the true credit for annihilating the enemy goes to his deputy Lu Bu of Bing Province and subordinate Zhang Liao!"
'Lu Bu?'
Zhang Yang's eyes grew complicated at the name.
He recalled the face of that arrogant, bold warrior who had argued the 'value of a blade' before him.
"Hoh... Lu Bu, eh, Lu Bu..."
Lu Bu had perfectly proven his worth—beyond even imagination. In a way far closer to their Turbid Stream blades than the scrupulous Pure Streamers.
But one final doubt lingered in Zhang Yang's mind.
'Still... he's Master Chae's disciple... Hm...'
Zhang Yang rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
A man whose mindset aligned with the Turbid Stream but whose master was Pure Stream: this contradictory Lu Bu.
'How the hell do I use this one?'
Zhang Yang's dilemma deepened.