Stirring (7)
"What in the world is going on!"
Yan Gang, directing the cavalry from amid the White Horse Volunteers, raised his voice in bewilderment.
The plan had been simple enough: bury the enemy under a storm of arrows from the White Horse Volunteers until they couldn't tell which way was up, then send the spear cavalry waiting on either flank in to cut them down to the last man. If the enemy vanguard collapsed without so much as a fight, Yuan Shao's army would lose heart, and all that remained was to ride that momentum and crush them. Yes — that was exactly how it was supposed to go.
"Ughaaaargh!"
Screams and the shrieks of terrified horses rose together as arrows loosed by Yuan Shao's army struck down rider after rider — White Horse Volunteers and spear cavalry alike tumbling from their saddles one after another.
The front, where the enemy spearmen were charging in, drew comparatively little arrow fire and suffered less for it, but the spear cavalry arrayed on the flanks were devastated. With no friendly troops ahead of them to restrain their aim, Yuan Shao's crossbowmen loosed at will, whittling the flanking riders down at a terrifying pace.
"Fire─!! I'll show you how arrows are meant to be shot──!!"
"……!"
This is bad. The cavalry had already lost their momentum, so charging the crossbowmen now would barely dent them — and the moment Yuan Shao's soldiers behind saw their crossbowmen under attack, they would come rushing to the rescue.
"General! What do we do!"
"Damn it all! Sound the retreat—!"
Clang!
The instant Yan Gang moved to give the order, Qu Yi came galloping in on horseback and swung his spear at him full force.
"Where do you think you're going! Come and have a proper bout with this old man!"
Yan Gang turned the blow aside with martial skill worthy of a seasoned general, his face twisting in a fierce scowl.
"Fine! If dying that badly is your heart's desire, I'll gladly grant it!"
If he could bring down the enemy general riding the crest of momentum, there was still hope. And the man had charged in of his own accord — he simply had to seize this chance.
"What's the hurry?! We could take our time and savor this!"
"Shut your mouth!"
As Yan Gang attacked with blurring speed, Qu Yi only laughed heartily and kept taunting him.
This isn't good...!
The enemy spearmen had crept to within a stone's throw before anyone noticed. He needed to settle this fast — his adjutant was striking at Qu Yi whenever an opening showed, but Qu Yi had locked down his defense and refused to fall easily.
"A grown man fighting like this! Two of you on one — have you no shame at all?!"
"Let's see how long you can keep that tongue of yours wagging!"
Judging by the nonsense pouring from his mouth, one might have mistaken Qu Yi for holding out with room to spare. But Yan Gang, who had spent countless years on battlefields, saw the truth: for all his swagger, the man was sweating as he barely turned the attacks aside.
He had sworn to carve out that tongue and pressed the assault alongside his adjutant — and it was at that very moment that everything changed.
"Gwaaaargh!"
The adjutant lending his strength at Yan Gang's side took an arrow from the enemy lines and rolled from his horse.
"Wh-what in the—?!"
Yan Gang stared, dumbstruck, at his adjutant — dead the moment he hit the ground, neck snapped.
"You fool! Is there time to let your eyes wander!"
"Huh?!"
Qu Yi did not miss the instant Yan Gang's head turned, and thrust.
Shunk!
"Kgh!"
The price of looking away mid-battle was steep. Yan Gang whipped his spear around and deflected the thrust aimed at his heart — but the blade slid on and punched clean through his right shoulder.
"Die!"
Gritting his teeth against the grip threatening to slip from his hand, Yan Gang turned aside blow after blow even with his shoulder torn open. But he could not hold out to the very end.
The instant his strength faltered, Qu Yi's spear flashed forward and skewered his throat.
"Grrrk...!"
With the spear through his neck, Yan Gang made a wet, bubbling sound and toppled slowly sideways.
Thud!
Gazing down at Yan Gang, eyes rolled white in death, Qu Yi bellowed for all to hear.
"The enemy commander is dead! Charge!"
Waaaaaah──!!
With a roar, the spearmen drove straight through the heart of the enemy formation.
"R-run! Run──!"
Commander lost, Gongsun Zan's army finally broke and fled in utter terror.
Watching the spear cavalry and the White Horse Volunteers take flight together, the soldiers' morale climbed higher still.
"Let's show those bastards what Jizhou is made of!"
Qu Yi did not stop at shattering the vanguard; he drove straight on toward Gongsun Zan's main camp.
"Follow me──!!"
Each time Qu Yi cut down one of Gongsun Zan's officers, the enemy cavalry scattered and fled in wild disarray, too rattled to gather themselves. And once the front gave way, the spearmen surged after him with a roar of their own. Watching how her vanguard fought, Yuan Shao let a small note of admiration escape her.
"So there was a reason he was so confident."
"My lord. What are your orders?"
Tian Feng asked at her side.
"Send word to every general leading troops: support them."
"At once."
Scarcely had Yuan Shao given the order before her great army began to move.
"Come! Let's kill every last one of them!"
"Charge──!!"
Yan Liang and Wen Chou, famed as the fierce generals of Hebei, drove forward at the heads of the left and right cavalry, while Zhang He and Gao Lan, both sons of Hejian, pushed the front-rank infantry onward.
"Shall we join them now as well?"
Watching the scene unfold, Yuan Shao gave a slow nod, took overall command of the main body's infantry, and began to gather speed.
"……"
Gongsun Zan watched in silence as his prized elite cavalry fled without so much as landing a blow.
Gongsun Fan, watching the same sight, spoke up.
"Brother. What do we do now?"
"……"
"...Brother?"
When his words drew nothing but continued silence, Gongsun Fan's face filled with puzzlement.
"...That useless fool Yan Gang."
At last Gongsun Zan spoke, eyes still on the collapsing battle, teeth grinding.
"We withdraw."
"We're not going to fight?"
"Fight now, and we lose."
Gongsun Zan dismissed the question flatly.
"The cavalry at the vanguard ran without so much as a fight."
All they had managed was to shoot down a handful of Yuan Shao's leading troops with arrows — and even that was next to nothing measured against the whole of Yuan Shao's army.
Gongsun Zan turned his head to look at his own soldiers.
"With morale sunk this low, even a battle we could win becomes one we lose."
The men wore dark, fearful expressions; their White Horse Volunteers had been swatted aside far too easily.
"Better to avoid a battle with no chance of winning."
With that, Gongsun Zan turned his white horse's head.
"Fall back and pull the army out. We make our stand against Yuan Shao at the Pan River — Jieqiao."
"...And the pursuers?"
Gongsun Fan, sensing his brother would not be moved, asked with care.
"What about them? What do you think."
Gongsun Zan said it evenly, then had a soldier summon his advisor.
"Guan Jing."
"You called, my lord."
A civil official who looked, at a glance, about as far from hand-to-hand combat as a man could be, bowed his head with perfect courtesy.
"I will place a portion of the soldiers under your command. Hold the pursuers at our rear."
"……"
"Do not worry. I will return with reinforcements before long."
Gongsun Zan lied without a flicker, wearing a warm, kindly smile.
It was the moment that laid bare the cold heart of a man who had deliberately sent his own younger brother, Gongsun Yue, to Yuan Shu. If Gongsun Yue helped Yuan Shu to victory, Yuan Shao's power would shrink — all to the good. If he was defeated and lost his life, Gongsun Zan would gain a pretext to attack Yuan Shao. Either way, his brother had been worth spending.
"You are the only man I trust enough to entrust this to."
The reason he now ordered Guan Jing to remain at the rear was no different. To keep the losses to a minimum.
Gongsun Zan believed that if he garrisoned the Pan River and faced Yuan Shao across the single bridge while summoning reinforcements, he could well crush him.
And Gongsun Zan knew full well: even if Guan Jing saw through the lie about reinforcements, he was not the sort of man who would refuse the order.
"As you command."
And just as Gongsun Zan expected, Guan Jing bowed low and received the order.
"Even if it costs me my life, I will hold back the pursuers."
There was a resolve in his eyes — the look of a man who knew exactly what fate awaited him and had made his peace with death.
"Haha! With you here, I couldn't ask for more!"
Gongsun Zan laughed heartily and clapped Guan Jing on the shoulder.
"Then I leave it to you."
"...Yes, my lord."
Gongsun Zan nodded, detached a portion of soldiers to Guan Jing — and Guan Jing held the rear, standing against the pursuers to the very last, until he fell to Yan Liang's hand.
Guan Jing, courtesy name Shiqi.
The man who, when Gongsun Zan took his own life in his hour of ruin, rode alone into Yuan Shao's army to meet his death. However wanting in talent he may have been, in loyalty alone he had no equal.
Thanks to his officer's sacrifice, Gongsun Zan — though defeated — escaped annihilation and fell back to the Pan River with the greater part of his army intact.
"……"
The battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan. Far from that field, a woman watched it all from a distant place.
She had left her hometown with great ambitions, wandering through Jizhou and You Province in search of a virtuous lord. But in neither place had she found the man she sought. Yuan Shao schemed endlessly behind the scenes to wrench Jizhou from Han Fu's grasp, while Gongsun Zan ground his people underfoot and spent loyal, capable men like so many consumables.
Did benevolent rule simply not exist in this age?
The woman closed her eyes for a moment — then at last turned her horse's head.
The spear she carried caught the sunlight and gleamed.