Nanyang Commandery of Jing Province (3)
The moment Liu Biao's army began its assault on the walls, Li Feng, commander of Wancheng's defenses, threw everything he had into holding them back.
"Liu Biao, you bastard! Did you drag every last soldier in Jing Province along with you?!"
Bellowing to mask his exhaustion, Li Feng never once stopped scanning his surroundings.
"At that snail's pace of yours, when exactly do you plan on climbing up?!"
"GYAAAH!"
Sun Ce swept her sword, and an enemy soldier clinging to the wall plummeted down with a shriek. It was ferocity enough to make one forget the listless attitude she had shown before the battle began.
Just as Li Feng had suspected, she was merely keeping it well hidden—in truth, Sun Ce and her officers alike harbored a deep grudge against Liu Biao's army.
"You green whelps! You've still ages to go before you can stand against me!"
"Haha! Somehow I feel even stronger than usual today!"
Veteran generals wielding a peculiar trident-tipped spear and an unremarkable single-bladed halberd cut down several men with every sweep.
And then there was the young commander who said nothing at all, simply swinging her sword in silence—and even that silent spectacle seemed like something out of a painting.
Watching them all, Li Feng clicked his tongue without meaning to.
…So the tiger's daughter really is a tiger after all.
Flawed though they were in many ways, this was precisely why his lord had taken the Sun family under his wing. In this chaotic age, where everyone raised their own banner to pursue their own ambitions, these were the very people Yuan Shu's faction needed most right now.
Supplies were abundant, and their lord's lineage left no room for reproach. All that remained was the ability to win wars—and were it not for that, Yuan Shu would have cast the Sun family aside long ago, and with cause to spare.
"Gwaaak—!"
Li Feng darted forward and ran his spear through a soldier scaling the wall, sending him tumbling back down.
"…Whew."
If we can just hold out until our lord returns after crushing Cao Cao, I'll be richly rewarded for this.
Though his breath sat at the very tip of his throat, the thought of that reward sent strength surging back into him.
"Just hold on a little longer! The relief army will be here to save us soon!"
With that cry, Li Feng summoned his strength anew and threw himself back into the fray.
Several days had passed since Yuan Shu's army began holding out against Liu Biao's assaults.
Li Feng turned to the adjutant at his side.
"Still no word from our lord?"
"None, sir. We've sent messengers to report that Wancheng is under attack more times than I can count, but not a single one has returned."
"…Understood. Get some rest."
The adjutant offered a brief bow and withdrew.
I no longer have any idea what's going on anymore.
Liu Biao's army may have had Wancheng surrounded, but their cordon was hardly so airtight that one man couldn't slip through in secret. He had watched the messengers break out of the encirclement and make for Yanzhou with his own eyes—by all rights, word of the siege should have reached his lord by now.
Yet not a single reply had come, and it was enough to drive Li Feng half out of his mind. If the messages had gotten through, a relief force would have arrived at Wancheng long ago. But the relief army still had not come, which could only mean…
Li Feng set his thoughts in order, slowly and carefully. Either the messengers had been captured along the way, and the news had never been delivered—
…or else their lord had been driven into so dire a strait that he couldn't spare his home base a single thought.
…Surely it couldn't come to that.
Just as Li Feng was straining to shake off the foreboding, someone barged up to him without warning.
"Hey. Commander, was it?"
It was Sun Ce—who, however much it pained him to admit it, had been racking up the greatest merits of this defense.
An unwelcome guest if ever there was one. Li Feng had no choice but to straighten his posture and project authority, though the fatigue he couldn't quite hide seeped into his stern voice.
"What is it this time?"
Pay no mind to his bearing, Sun Ce spoke with perfect nonchalance.
"Liu Biao's army is pulling out."
"What did you say?"
Li Feng jerked upright from his seat, startled by the report.
"This isn't some kind of false report, is it?"
"What would I have to gain from that?"
Under Li Feng's suspicious glare, Sun Ce remained utterly composed.
"Go up on the wall and see for yourself."
"…"
"I'll be going, then."
With that, Sun Ce flounced off without so much as a backward glance.
Not a speck of manners in that woman. Not one.
And yet, were it not for the aid of that woman and the rest of the Sun family, the walls would never have held this long.
Liu Biao's army, suddenly withdrawing…?
They held the superior position—what possible reason could they have? An enemy in retreat was surely cause for celebration, yet all Li Feng felt was a gnawing sense of dread.
He hurried his steps up onto the wall, and there, just as Sun Ce had said, Liu Biao's army was in retreat.
"…So it's true."
They were pulling back with such haste that it was obvious even from up here. Like some wild animal fleeing for its life…
…Fleeing?
At that, a dozen thoughts collided in Li Feng's head. He had been too preoccupied repelling Liu Biao's assaults to consider anything else, but there were other powers hostile to his lord in these parts besides Liu Biao. First, there was Cao Cao, the very one his lord had marched out at this moment to attack—and the other power was…
If that's the case, this is the worst possible outcome.
Li Feng could not suppress the unease written across his anxious face.
Not long after Liu Biao's army bustled away in its frantic withdrawal, Li Feng came face to face with the very worst he had imagined: another army advancing on Wancheng in impeccable, order-perfect formation, not a single step out of line.
The moment he made out that army's banner, a curse escaped him before he knew it.
"…Ah, damn it all."
Ding—the character emblazoned upon it. There was no mistaking that enormous banner. It symbolized none other than the Grand General of the Han Dynasty.
They had succeeded in driving off the wolf, only for a tiger to arrive hot on its heels. The soldiers defending Wancheng could not hide their pale bewilderment.
Gazing out at an elite host that could rightfully be called the strongest army under heaven, Li Feng shouted in haste.
"The relief force will be here soon—so fear nothing and steel your hearts, every one of you!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Having steadied his men, Li Feng whipped his head around toward Sun Ce.
"You—make your preparations at once! The battle is not yet ov—!"
"You think you can win?"
Sun Ce cut him off without warning.
"…What is that supposed to mean?"
"I asked whether you truly believe we can hold off that army."
Sun Ce stood with her arms crossed, watching the Grand General's host advance with an unreadable look in her eyes.
Li Feng glanced around him. Just as Sun Ce feared, the soldiers who had endured this string of battles were in sorry shape. The castle's stores were slowly running dry, and the men, worn down by combat upon combat, were exhausted in body and mind alike.
Even so, to say such a thing outright on a battlefield was an offense deserving of summary execution, and no one would have cried injustice. Li Feng roared:
"…Sun Ce! Mind your tongue!"
"Why should I?"
Knowing full well what she was doing, Sun Ce closed the distance a step.
"The whole song and dance about the relief army—it was all a lie from the start, and you know it."
"Why, you insolent little—!"
Shring!
His patience finally spent, Li Feng drew the sword at his hip.
"A commander's duty is to fight to the last and die at his post—so why do you insist on tearing the army's discipline to pieces?!"
"I honestly can't tell whether you still don't see it, or you're just trying very hard not to."
Sun Ce gave a single shake of her head, then drew her own sword, just as Li Feng had drawn his.
What did it mean, after all, for a mere field officer to level a blade at the commander of the defending army? Li Feng was not so dense a man as to miss it.
"You mangy bitch—how dare you betray us!"
"A bit harsh, don't you think?"
With a soft snort, Sun Ce hurled herself at him, sword flashing.
"I happen to owe someone a debt I intend to repay personally. So try to understand."
"That's bullsh—!"
Li Feng never finished the sentence. Sun Ce's blade took his head instead.
The soldiers who had just witnessed this sudden act of mutiny could only stare, struck dumb.
"What are you waiting for? Open the gate."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
At Sun Ce's flat command, the soldier scrambled down the steps and set about hauling the gates open.
As Sun Ce watched, a familiar voice reached her from behind.
"So you've decided."
"…Father."
Sun Ce turned. Sun Jian—who had somehow made his way up onto the wall, leaving behind the veteran generals fretting below that disaster might strike—was looking at her.
"How is your wound?"
"My back stings a little, but it's nothing."
Sun Jian answered with a hearty laugh.
"All the same, the physician told you to be careful. Go back and rest properly."
"Honestly… Yes, yes, I know."
Sun Jian grumbled that this was already the umpteenth time he'd heard those exact words on the way up.
"Father."
"Yes?"
"In the state I'm in, the Sun family now rests on your shoulders."
"I understand."
Sun Jian asked, his voice grave.
"What you're doing today—will you not regret it?"
"Perhaps."
So saying, Sun Ce turned her gaze to the gates, which were swinging slowly open.
Bloodless capture.
Nanyang Commandery of Jing Province, once Yuan Shu's home base, fell to Jeong Reung without a single drop of blood shed.