The Tiger of Jiangdong (8)
Kuai Yue, architect of the stratagem, had issued clear instructions: if Sun Jian's army refused to take the bait and give chase, they were to skip the signal entirely and call for reinforcements from Yuan Shao's army at once — but if the ambush proceeded as planned, they were to sound the signal from outside so that Xiangyang Castle could sally forth in support.
Lü Gong, having lured Sun Jian into the trap, hounded the fleeing Sun Jian all the while raising the signal toward Xiangyang. The moment the prearranged sign went up, Kuai Yue flung wide the gates of Xiangyang Castle and hurled his men into a night assault. Inside the enemy camp, Sun Jian's soldiers scrambled from tent to tent, shaking their generals awake.
"General! We have trouble!"
"...What is it?"
Huang Gai had been dead asleep in his tent, but as the clamor outside swelled he hauled himself upright, rumpled and bleary.
"A night raid, sir!"
"Mmh—?!"
At the soldier's report, Huang Gai's eyes bulged open and he roared.
"Where the devil did these bastards find the nerve!"
Thrown off balance by Liu Biao's sudden night assault, Huang Gai nonetheless steadied himself and met it with level calm. Armor and weapon went on with a veteran's practiced speed, and he burst from his tent to crush the skull of the first Liu Biao soldier in sight like a block of tofu.
"GYAAAAH!"
One of the raiders crumpled where he stood, brains spilling from his caved-in head.
Huang Gai lifted his voice in its trademark bellow.
"Men of Liu Biao, come at me! I'll take you on myself!"
"...!"
The sheer presence of the man froze the Liu Biao soldiers mid-stride, while Sun Jian's army — scattered and stumbling since the raid began — steadily reclaimed its fighting spirit.
Just then, a commander burst out from among the enemy ranks.
"You old fossil! I'll send you to your grave myself—!"
"Now what ill-mannered whelp is... Hm?"
Huang Gai snapped his head around, and at the sight of a familiar face he threw it back and laughed.
"Well, if it isn't Lord Huang Zu! The very man who tucked tail and ran, claiming he'd no wish to cross so uncivilized a weapon!"
"Hold your tongue!"
Huang Zu swung his sword, and Huang Gai answered with a sweep of his iron whip.
CLANG!
"Ugh—nngh!"
"You wobble about just the way you look! Honestly, I wonder whether you've been eating properly at all!"
Their weapons had crossed only once, yet Huang Zu understood everything he needed to.
This mad old man is not to be fought — not under any circumstances!
The instant that judgment formed, Huang Zu whirled about and bolted.
"Hey! Let's have another round some day!"
"...And where do you think you're going!"
For a heartbeat Huang Gai simply gaped at the sight of Huang Zu's heels vanishing into the dark; then he loosed a furious roar and hammered aside the Liu Biao soldiers blocking his path with his iron whip.
While the two commanders chased each other across the field, a figure of cool, androgynous beauty was rallying the troops from the center of the line.
Zhou Yu, courtesy name Gongjin.
This was the moment the strategist — who in the history that should have been would only have made her name across the realm after Sun Jian's death — stepped onto the stage years ahead of schedule.
"And to think this is meant to be your first outing — you handle the command remarkably well!"
Nearby, Han Dang, who had been lending Zhou Yu his strength, laughed as he brought his short halberd crashing down. The hapless Liu Biao soldier unlucky enough to draw Han Dang's attention was split from the crown of his head, his life snuffed out on the spot.
Zhou Yu, still exhorting the soldiers around her, turned to him.
"General! Where is Bofu right now?!"
"The young master?"
At her question, Han Dang stroked his beard. All the while, his remaining hand kept swinging his weapon and cutting down Liu Biao's men — a sight that stood in stark contrast to the easy warmth he showed her.
"A messenger came from Daying, and off he went tearing somewhere with General Demou."
"...It seems something urgent has come up."
Neither General Demou nor young Bofu was the sort to abandon his post because battle frightened him.
"Die!"
Just then, a Liu Biao soldier who had shoved his way through Sun Jian's ranks lunged at Zhou Yu.
"Look out there!"
Her delicate looks sat ill with any image of swinging a sword on the front line, and Han Dang, badly startled, scrambled to come to her aid.
SHLACK!
In the very instant the soldier's sword came around, something flashed, and his head left his shoulders.
"...Ghhk."
THUD!
"...Huh."
That was all Han Dang could manage, so bewildered was he by the scene before his eyes. Zhou Yu, who had drawn the sword at her hip like a ray of light and cut the man down, addressed him with perfect courtesy.
"Thank you for your concern."
"...Er. Right."
Han Dang scratched his head, looking faintly embarrassed. Well, no wonder she was the young master's dearest friend — the woman clearly had a gift for the martial arts as well.
With skill like that, she'll hardly meet her end in some sickbed far from home.
And so the two armies crossed weapons at every corner of the field, locked in a ferocious struggle. As the midnight battle wore on, a certain someone abruptly appeared and began turning the battlefield on its head.
"WAAAAAAGH—!!"
It was Sun Ce — the one who had rushed off somewhere upon receiving Zu Mao's messenger — storming back into Sun Jian's camp. Alone on horseback, he came tearing through the war camp and striking off the head of every Liu Biao soldier he laid eyes on, and the enemy visibly withered before him.
Han Dang spotted him and drawled in exaggerated tones.
"Well, well. Look who's back — the young master himself."
"Where on earth did you go, to only now—"
Zhou Yu muttered curtly and turned her head toward Sun Ce.
...
And at the sight of Sun Ce's face, her lips pressed into a hard line.
Han Dang took in the moment and cocked his head.
"Hm? Meizhou Lang. What's this, all quiet all of a sudden?"
"...How many times must I ask you not to call me that?"
She was, quite unmistakably, a woman — so why on earth did her nickname insist on carrying 'Lang', a character that meant a handsome young man?
When Zhou Yu fixed him with a look of pure grievance, Han Dang simply grinned and waved it off with his usual easy charm.
"Heh heh! Well, the name's already out there — what can you do! Better to make your peace with it!"
"Hnnngh..."
Wearing an expression that said her head hurt, Zhou Yu turned her gaze back to Sun Ce.
What in the world happened?
True, Bofu was headstrong to a fault and quick to flare up on ordinary days — but even Zhou Yu had never once seen him seethe like this.
"Get back to Xiangyang Castle!"
Emboldened by Sun Ce's martial fury, Sun Jian's army fought harder than ever, and Liu Biao's army — unable to punch through that raging resistance — withdrew in good order back toward Xiangyang Castle.
Judging by Sun Ce's temperament, Zhou Yu was certain he would hunt the enemy down. Contrary to her expectation, however, he made no move to pursue the retreating foe.
If anything, he seemed relieved as he promptly barked his orders to the soldiers.
"We pull out of here at once!"
"Bofu?"
Zhou Yu could not hide her puzzlement at the command. They were within arm's reach of taking Xiangyang Castle — why throw the army into reverse now?
Sun Ce caught the question in her eyes and answered.
"Father is dying."
"Dying...?"
The news was beyond anything she had imagined; shock rippled plainly across Zhou Yu's face. The man had been in roaring health just yesterday — how could this have happened?
"O-our lord is dying?!"
Huang Gai, who had let Huang Zu slip through his fingers and was trudging back with his tail between his legs, went white at the news.
"This bodes ill."
For once, Han Dang's face could not manage its usual easy grin.
When the assembled generals shot Sun Ce looks demanding an explanation, he spoke flatly and evenly.
"He chased down a small enemy column with a handful of men and ran straight into an ambush."
...
The grim news left Zhou Yu in silence, her mind churning. Sun Jian's army held the advantage for now, yet breaching Xiangyang Castle would plainly take days more, and proper treatment on an active battlefield was a fantasy — by the time the walls fell, the odds were high that Bofu's father would already be gone.
And this was no ordinary officer they had lost. This was Sun Jian, supreme commander of the entire army. Even now, the morale of the soldiers nearby was visibly draining away, and there was no conceivable way to keep fighting in such a state.
After a short struggle with herself, Zhou Yu nodded at last.
"Then we have no choice but to turn back."
"Thank you."
With a word of gratitude, Sun Ce gave the command to one and all.
"We return to Nanyang Commandery!"
Having smashed headlong into Sun Jian's furious resistance and been forced to haul his army back, Liu Biao voiced his bewilderment at the enemy's sudden behavior.
"...Are they withdrawing?"
"It would seem so, my lord."
Kuai Liang, attending Liu Biao at close hand, replied with deference.
"I cannot make sense of it. Why would they retreat?"
"...Could some calamity have befallen Sun Jian, I wonder?"
With Sun Jian's army holding the upper hand, there was only one explanation that could compel them to pull their army back like this: something had happened to the Tiger of Jiangdong himself.
Kuai Liang spoke.
"My lord — this is our chance. Let us fling ourselves at them once more and end this war here and now."
"Hmm..."
Liu Biao received the counsel coldly.
"Our morale has sunk from defeat after defeat. Our soldiers are worn out from the fighting just now. And if that retreat is a snare meant to draw us out — what then?"
Kuai Liang answered his lord's worries.
"Their formation is far too ragged for it to be a trap, my lord. And even were it one, we need only withdraw again and bar the castle gates fast. I beg you — reconsider, just once more."
"No. I will watch and wait from here."
Liu Biao would not hear Kuai Liang's advice.
"...If that is your will, my lord, then I shall comply."
Before Liu Biao's unyielding manner, Kuai Liang could say nothing else.