Tiger of Jiangdong (7)
Sun Jian's army kept up its assault on Xiangyang Castle, pressing ever harder to take it.
Earth was shoveled into the deep-cut moat to fill it as far as it would go, while arrows rained down on Liu Biao's troops whenever they moved to interfere, grinding the defenders' losses up bit by bit. All the while, the attempts to smash through the main gate were repeated countless times over, and the burden on Liu Biao's army grew heavier still.
Day by day, Sun Jian could see the enemy wearing down. The assaults on the gate had begun merely as a way to pile on the pressure, yet Xiangyang's gates were crumbling far faster than he had anticipated. After defeat upon defeat, Liu Biao's morale had sunk to the bedrock—so in a way, it was only to be expected.
The moat ringing the walls, too, had been all but filled in with earth. And the moment it ceased to serve any purpose, every siege engine Sun Jian's army had prepared would come hammering against Xiangyang's walls. The instant that happened, the castle would lose its will to fight altogether and fall.
Having surveyed the castle's state, Sun Jian spoke.
"It won't be long now."
"So it is."
Zu Mao, attending at his side, nodded along in agreement.
"Push a little harder, and Liu Biao's army will have no choice but to hand Xiangyang over to—"
Crack!
Just then, a loud splintering sound rang out across the camp. The wind had been blowing with unusual ferocity that day, and the commander's banner planted at the heart of the army—the great standard raised before a general's tent—had snapped, unable to withstand the gale.
Sun Jian clicked his tongue.
"Every other flag is standing just fine. Why does that one alone have to break?"
"My lord."
"What is it?"
When Zu Mao called to him, Sun Jian turned his head.
"This is surely an ill omen. Might it not be wise to withdraw the army, if only for a short while?"
The banner that symbolized Sun Jian himself, lying fallen on the bare ground—a sight of ill omen if ever there was one. Zu Mao took it as a portent that misfortune was about to befall his lord.
"Haha! As one who takes the field alongside you, I understand the worry—but I cannot pull the army back!"
At Zu Mao's concern, Sun Jian laughed heartily.
"With Xiangyang's capture staring us in the face, would I turn back over a single broken banner?"
"......"
"It was nothing more than a banner felled by the wind. There's no need to fret over every little thing!"
Even so, the uneasy premonition would not leave Zu Mao.
'...I had best prepare a countermeasure of my own.'
The instincts of a man who had marched through battle after battle at Sun Jian's side were screaming at him: the moment they let this pass in silence, a calamity beyond all bearing would descend upon the Sun clan.
Lü Gong had set out to break through the encirclement and carry a request for reinforcements to Yuan Shao. Picking some five hundred elite soldiers skilled with the bow, he had led them out through the east gate in the dead of night and slipped clean through Sun Jian's siege lines.
"Stand in my way, and every last one of you dies!"
Each time the mighty warrior Lü Gong swung his spear, the Sun Jian soldiers barring his path lost their heads. Thanks to efforts that flinched from nothing—not even death itself—his force punched through the encirclement without any real loss.
Now all that remained was to shake off the pursuit and carry the plea for aid to Yuan Shao. Following Kuai Yue's plan, Lü Gong posted part of his men in ambush on Mount Xianshan, then descended the slope once more to wait for the pursuers to close in.
Before long, exactly as Kuai Yue had promised, a hundred-odd horsemen came galloping straight toward him.
"Just as Lord Kuai predicted."
Lü Gong, who had been deliberately slowing his pace to play the fugitive as convincingly as he could, turned his gaze forward again. The officer at the head of the pursuit shouted at him.
"You wretch! Did you think I would simply let you go? Come back here and face me!"
"Move, quickly! We must not be taken!"
Lü Gong forced as much panic into his voice as he could muster and pushed his speed back up. It was a night so dark that even the moonlight had all but vanished, and so he lured his pursuer on without ever learning who the man was.
Just as Kuai Yue had advised, rather than leading Sun Jian's riders straight to the ambush, Lü Gong circled the vicinity again and again, deliberately draining their strength. After sustaining the chase for a good while, he judged it enough and drew the pursuers toward the killing ground.
High on the mountain, soldiers waited with stones in hand, while the archers hid in the thickets, biding their moment. Reaching the ambush point, Lü Gong slowed little by little, baiting the Sun Jian troops after him.
The moment his pace dropped, the man on his tail bellowed.
"Your horse must be spent! Crawling along like that, where do you imagine you'll flee to?"
Blustering away, with no idea what was about to become of him. Lü Gong sneered inwardly, then turned his head to see just who it was chasing him down.
"...Hm?!"
One look at the man's face, and Lü Gong's expression froze in astonishment.
That face—was it not Sun Jian himself!
Lü Gong exclaimed in shock.
"Impossible! Lord Sun Wentai himself, gracing us with his presence to take me in person!"
"Now you see! But seeing changes nothing—I have no mind to let you go!"
At Sun Jian's shout, Lü Gong broke into a gleeful grin.
"Haha! Do you not realize what situation you find yourself in?"
"What nonsense are you spouting now!"
"Then allow me to show you!"
And with those words, the ambushers revealed themselves, arrows trained on the pursuit force.
"...!"
The instant enemy archers rose from the thickets, Sun Jian grasped what was happening, alarm flashing across his face.
Lü Gong roared.
"Today, on this spot, the Tiger of Jiangdong falls! LOOSE!!"
At the command, Lü Gong's ambushers sent stones crashing down from above and loosed their arrows in wild volleys. Sun Jian watched a rider who had been pressed close at his side take a stone to the head and go down, skull shattered.
Sun Jian bellowed.
"You think I would die in a place like this?!"
Every inch the seasoned commander, Sun Jian refused to be swallowed by the chaos; he wheeled his horse about at once and bolted.
"All of you! Follow me!"
His riders—cut to less than half their number in the space of a breath—raised a cry and spurred after him.
"Hahahaha! You there, Sun Jian! Do you truly believe you can escape!"
While the ambushers kept pouring their assault down onto the Sun Jian troops, Lü Gong wheeled about the handful of horsemen who had helped him bait the enemy and gave chase. He had brought only a sliver of his force through the encirclement, so the men lying in wait were not many—but even that number was more than enough to destroy the troops hanging off his tail.
"Aaargh!"
Not long after Sun Jian began his flight, the riders trailing him all met their deaths under the rain of arrows.
No—not all of them.
"My lord."
Zu Mao, who had followed with a portion of the soldiers out of concern for his lord, spoke up.
"From now on, do wear your helmet properly."
"...What brings this on, all of a sudden?"
"Did your skull not very nearly crack just now?"
"......"
Sun Jian held his silence. When the ambushers had dropped their stones moments before, it might so easily have been his own head, and not a soldier's, that shattered. Zu Mao's words were a needle aimed squarely at his lord's carelessness—the habit of riding into battle wearing nothing but a red headwrap.
Sun Jian said, aggrieved.
"Still—'skull,' about your own lord's head?"
"Forgive me. It will likely be the last time!"
"What do you mean by—"
A nameless dread rising in his chest, Sun Jian looked at Zu Mao. Scarcely had his lord's gaze settled on him than Zu Mao wheeled his horse in the opposite direction.
"Please, escape safely!"
"Wait, hold on—!"
Even with Sun Jian shouting after him, Zu Mao charged without a moment's hesitation straight at the enemy commander. Lü Gong, hard on his heels, raised his voice in surprise.
"Wheeling about all of a sudden? There are limits to being a fool!"
"At the very least, I can drag one of you down with me!"
Zu Mao laughed long and loud—a sound strangely mismatched with his youthful face—and swung his twin swords one final time. That was the last of it Sun Jian allowed himself to see before turning his head away. He could not bear to watch a loyal retainer lose his life to his own carelessness.
Riding hard, riding desperately, the instant Sun Jian broke clear of the ambush ground, arrows came plunging down once more.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
"...!"
The last of the falling arrows punched through Sun Jian's back.
"Not yet!"
Gritting his teeth, Sun Jian fought down the strength draining from his body.
"Who ever saw a tiger die from a few arrows!"
His eyes blazing, Sun Jian roared.
"You are a long way yet from felling me!"
Lü Gong—having cut down Zu Mao, who had thrown himself into the arrows' path as a living shield—resumed the chase and laughed with swaggering confidence.
"Truly, a valor worthy of the Tiger of Jiangdong! Then by all means—do try and slip away!"
Like a dying beast flinging its final strength into one last surge, Sun Jian drove his horse as fast as it would go, straining to shake off his pursuers. But his body was failing him. With every passing moment the gap to Lü Gong's riders narrowed, and worse still, he could feel the cold creeping into his own flesh.
Had he lost too much blood?
If I had known it would come to this, I should have quietly taken Zu Mao's advice.
He gave his life to save mine, and yet it seems we will be meeting again before long.
Even as his vision blurred, Sun Jian smiled at the foolish thought.
'...So this is where I crumble. Like this.'
He had wanted to see just how far the Sun clan could rise in this age of chaos.
"—ther!!"
Just then, a familiar voice reached Sun Jian's ears.
"FATHER!!"
"...Sun Ce."
A woman with auburn hair, the very image of his mother, came galloping toward him astride a horse.
"Where did this bitch crawl out from! Get lost, this instant—!"
"SHUT UP!!"
"Hrk—?!"
In a flash, Sun Ce drove her horse past her father and cut Lü Gong down with a single stroke.
Cheng Pu, who had come with her, hurriedly caught and supported Sun Jian, shouting.
"Young Mistress! We must withdraw the army at once and see to our lord's wounds!"
"...Yes."
At Cheng Pu's words, Sun Ce nodded. Then she ground her teeth, unable to contain the fury of having failed to protect her father.
"...This debt, I will repay. Without fail."
Sun Ce, glaring at Xiangyang, murmured the words coldly.