Dangtugo (9)
I stared at the army Yuan Shu had unveiled before my eyes.
According to the scouts' reports, it was a colossal host that topped 100,000 without even trying—so vast it was hard to believe it belonged to a power that controlled Shuchun and nothing more.
"...Well, at least they look the part," I muttered, watching Yuan Shu's ranks.
It was a force so enormous that even sweeping my gaze across it would take a while. The sight of them advancing in unison, a hundred thousand footfalls thundering as one, was undeniably spectacular. Apparently Yuan Shu hadn't marched out on baseless confidence alone—with numbers like that, it made sense that anyone would start feeling invincible. The emperors of unified dynasties raised armies in the hundreds of thousands, after all. Maybe he figured he could do the same...
...Still, no matter how I turned it over, I couldn't fathom why Yuan Shu had thrown away the advantage of defending. In sheer size, his host of well over a hundred thousand was indeed larger than ours—but that was all it had going for it, and that was the problem. If war were nothing but a game of numbers, what would be the point of strategy? Of tactics? Why bother racking your brain when you could just slam the attack button and be done with it?
Just then, Liu Bei spoke in her calm, gentle voice.
"General-in-Chief, Yuan Shu's army is closing in."
"Understood."
Well, better to know early than not at all, I supposed. Just as she'd said, Yuan Shu's army was advancing on us from the distance, and watching it bear down, I gave the order.
"Advance straight ahead, and fear nothing. There is no reason for us to lose."
"We obey your command."
Our formation was already marching in immaculate order, so the moment the distance closed, we could clash with Yuan Shu's host without a second's delay. I turned my gaze slightly toward Cao Cao's forces moving a short distance away. Her soldiers, apparently having received the same order, were bustling about with great urgency. Watching her elite cavalry stream off toward some point on the field, I found myself wondering—had the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry been formed by now? The Qingzhou troops must have been raised long ago.
If the Qingzhou troops really were nothing more than bandits from Qingzhou who had surrendered and been folded into the ranks, then the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had earned their name from a ferocity said to rival tigers and leopards. Even within Cao Cao's own army, it was a special force assembled from only the finest and most valiant soldiers.
Noticing where my gaze had wandered, Lü Bu swept her eyes over Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
"Hmph. Guess they actually trained them properly."
These were soldiers impressive enough that even Lü Bu—who, after the earlier incident, could barely look at Cao Cao without scowling—grudgingly admitted it. It was a glimpse of why the Cao Cao of original history had swept across the realm, piling up one brilliant military achievement after another.
Then Lü Bu tossed out flatly, "But if we ever cross blades, I win."
"...Sure."
I gave a wry smile to Lü Bu and her stubborn pride. In the original history, it was Cao Cao who brought you down, you know.
"...Nnngh."
Of course, Lü Bu had no way of knowing what my smile meant; she simply turned as red as a tomato.
All the while, our army steadily closed the distance, and far off I could make out a blond man practically dripping with aristocratic airs.
So Yuan Shu had golden hair, just like Yuan Shao. Was blond hair a Yuan family trait in this world?
Yuan Shu, wearing the mianliu crown reserved for emperors alone, stood out vividly even at that distance. One look was enough to tell how uncomfortable the thing was—yet there he was, parading it around a battlefield without a second thought. Our own Empress complained that the mianliu crown was unbearable and rarely bothered with it. A few hidebound officials had looked visibly troubled by Her Majesty's habits, but what could anyone do? When the Empress herself says she hates the thing, you simply nod and fall in line.
The tactless bureaucrat who had barged in ranting about tradition was promptly demoted and shuffled off to some post where no one would ever lay eyes on him again. And I have to say, the sight of a penniless official who had lost everything and saved nothing but his skin, groveling and begging for mercy, was a truly pathetic one. Come to think of it, most of those "traditions" were things emperors themselves had invented in the first place. A sovereign is one who sets the current—not some vague figure swept along by it.
What was it again... even in feudal aristocratic societies where the king's authority was fairly weak, noble fashion flipped this way and that with every shift in the king's personal tastes, didn't it? That was precisely the kind of seat the ruler of a nation occupied.
"You relics of the Han! Why do you deny the coming of a new age!"
Yuan Shu's voice boomed across the field. Wow. Gotta hand it to him—that voice alone deserves some credit. As is so often the case with men propped up by a fraudulent identity, Yuan Shu's one outstanding talent was talking big.
"The Han is withering, and the age of Zhong has begun!"
"……"
When I showed no sign of answering, Yuan Shu only grew more full of himself.
"Kneel before me even now and swear your loyalty, and I shall graciously grant you my mercy—"
"God, I can't listen to another word of this."
I muttered under my breath. Naturally, there was no chance of my words carrying that far, and Yuan Shu kept right on holding forth. Arguing with a man like that would do nothing but leave me with a sore throat. There would be no conversation to be had with him. None at all.
"Not worth answering. Let's move."
"Yes, my lord."
Liu Bei, marching at my side as my aide, replied in her level, gentle voice. When I advanced the army without giving any answer whatsoever, Yuan Shu took note and shouted:
"Ha! You traitorous dog! Do you think that will make me afraid!"
"……"
"Army of Zhong! Advance! Strike down the enemy──!!"
Still utterly blind to how things stood, Yuan Shu wore an expression of supreme confidence. I was genuinely curious how long that confidence would last.
"Tch. This is exactly why one should never stoop to dealing with lowborn scum."
Yuan Shu clicked his tongue as he glared at the Han General-in-Chief who had ignored his every word. Then he turned to the general standing at his side.
"Let's see... Zhang Xun, are the preparations complete?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Zhang Xun, Grand General of Zhong, answered with a ringing shout.
"On Your Majesty's word alone, the 120,000 elite soldiers under Zhong's banner will lay down their lives and seize victory, whenever you command!"
"Hahaha! Music to my ears!"
In his single-minded obsession with swelling his troop count, he had neglected absolutely everything else—and the result was an army of a staggering 120,000. Young men had been dragged into forced conscription; every last supply had been plundered by force. As a result, the lands around Shuchun had been devastated to the point of resembling wasteland, yet not a single soul dared breathe a word of complaint.
Yuan Shu had governed Nanyang Commandery the same way, and the ministers who had once remonstrated with him time and again had long since despaired of him and abandoned his cause. A power bloated with greed far beyond its station, liable to collapse at any moment—that was the true state of Yuan Shu's domain. But blinded by his hunger for glory, he couldn't see it.
"Zhang Xun! This is the first imperial command of my reign! Sweep away every last one of the traitors who dare stand against me!"
"Could there be any doubt, Your Majesty?!"
Clad head to toe in lavish equipment to broadcast the authority of a Grand General, Zhang Xun strode forward with a confident gait. Taking his place at the very heart of the formation, he bellowed:
"Soldiers, hear me!"
"……"
"You are honored men, sworn to uphold the Mandate of Heaven and lay down your lives for the true Emperor!"
Standing at the front to fan the soldiers' morale, Zhang Xun pressed on.
"Fear nothing! The Mandate of Heaven stands with—"
"General! We have a problem!"
At that moment, one of the officers assisting him cried out in alarm.
"...General Ji Ling, what is it?"
"Enemy cavalry! They're bearing down on our front lines!"
"What did you say?"
A single name flashed through Zhang Xun's mind, and he blurted it out in a hurry.
"L-Lü Bu? Is it Lü Bu?"
"No, sir! I've never seen this commander before in my life!"
A warrior even Ji Ling, the fiercest general of the Zhong army, did not recognize.
"...So they hold us in rather low regard, it seems."
Zhang Xun let a flicker of disdain cross his face at the notion that the Han army would field some nameless nobody.
"Very well! Crush them, and the momentum of battle is ours!"
"……"
"Make them pay for daring to look down on Zhong—"
KRA-KOOOM───!!
"...?"
Zhang Xun whipped his head around at the tremendous crash that had erupted nearby. It wasn't as though a city wall had just come down. What in the world was that sound...?
"GWAAAAGH!"
"……"
When he saw the state of the front line, Zhang Xun's voice died in his throat.
A warrior atop a black steed worthy of being called a beast of legend, swinging a greatsword even larger than her own body. The allied soldiers who had raised a wall of spears to bar her path were being flung through the air in every direction—a sight so surreal it hardly seemed real.
"Ghk!"
"GYAAAH!"
Like wingless birds, the soldiers hung in the empty air for a heartbeat before crashing down in a tangled heap atop their comrades. In an instant, the solid formation collapsed, and through the breach came more enemy cavalry, trampling the wreckage.
"Follow your general! CHARGE──!"
RAAAAAAGH──!!
What followed was nothing short of a one-sided massacre. The enemy cavalry that had punched into the very center of the allied line churned through the formation as casually as if out for a stroll. Through the gaps they carved, enemy infantry poured in after them, plunging the battlefield into even deeper chaos.
"...This can't be."
Zhang Xun felt as though he were under some kind of spell—but the stinging dust drifting in from nearby proved that the scene before his eyes was no dream.
"This can't... be happening...!"
Even Lü Bu, the Peerless Under Heaven herself, could never produce a sight like this! Then who in the world is that warrior?!
Zhang Xun turned his head.
"Ji Ling! You can stop her, can't you?!"
"...Leave it to me!"
The Zhong army's mightiest general mounted his horse, beloved blade in hand. As he galloped forward, Ji Ling roared at the top of his lungs:
"You bitch──! Enough of your rampaging—taste my Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade──!!"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"?!"
CLANG!
"Guh!"
A strike had come flying at him out of nowhere. Ji Ling barely turned it aside, eyes bulging, and yanked his horse's head around in a hurry.
"No way... you actually blocked that?"
Standing before Ji Ling was a figure that any commander who had made a name on the battlefield would know on sight.
"You're luckier than you look, you know?"
"...Lü Bu."
Peerless Under Heaven.
With her blood-red eyes, Lü Bu stole a glance at the warrior still rampaging across the field.
"Can't let her hog all the glory by herself."
"……"
Cold sweat trickled down Ji Ling's face as he warily watched Lü Bu. And at that very same moment, the nameless warrior came charging in, eyes locked dead ahead.
"I-I have to run...!"
Zhang Xun, seeing her bearing down on him, bolted—but it was already far too late.
"……"
Zhang Xun's head went flying, his eyes still wide with disbelief.
"Ghk—!"
"What? That was nothing."
And Ji Ling, still locked in his standoff with Lü Bu, met his end skewered through by the Sky Piercer Halberd.
It was the moment the Zhong dynasty fell.