King of the Nanman (5)
"It is quite simple. We crush them one by one."
"Crush them one by one?"
"Yes."
As we weighed our strategy for the coming battle against Meng Huo, Zhuge Liang offered her counsel in a calm voice. When I asked her to elaborate, she fluttered her White Feather Fan and went on.
"If we hold our formation fast and repel every assault, they will most certainly divide their forces in hopes of dragging us into a chaotic melee."
Around the square marker representing our formation, Zhuge Liang began setting down pieces one by one, each signifying a unit of Meng Huo's army.
"Given the terrain where we shall engage them, King Duosi's elite troops will inevitably show themselves here, on this comparatively sheltered ground."
Next she placed a piece to the left of our force, where a rather steep hill would have the infantry groaning their way upward.
"As the battle wears on, Meng Huo, unable to contain her frustration, will commit the reserves she has been holding in her rear."
And straightaway she moved the piece that had been idling behind Meng Huo to the right of our line.
There she was, forecasting the entire course of the battle right there on the tabletop. Watching her, I asked:
"Then how do we prepare for them?"
"We need only commit reserves of our own, would we not?"
Zhuge Liang said this with a hand raised to her lips, a faint smile playing in her eyes.
"And of course, King Duosi's troops must be met with cavalry."
"Hmm..."
"After all, infantry would only watch them keep their distance while our losses piled up."
According to the Yi Province soldiers who had faced Meng Huo's forces before, the enemy was remarkably quick on their feet. Anyone rash enough to give chase, the veterans said, would catch every last sting the enemy had to offer, flounder about in agony, and then drop flat on the spot.
But did that mean the unit couldn't fight up close? Not in the least. These fellows strapped small shields to their backs and swords at their waists, and — true to their name, the Viper Corps — they even handled live snakes.
Supposedly, like a ninja scattering smoke bombs in his wake, they would fling the vipers tucked inside their robes straight at you and then close in for the kill. Picturing the scene was amusing enough.
Save for the small detail that we were now the ones who had to face them, that is.
"But there's nowhere near this hill to hide cavalry, is there?"
I asked what was, if anything, the obvious question. The hill where King Duosi's troops were expected to appear offered no ground fit for concealing horsemen. These people were no fools, either — they would be wary of cavalry. They would surely send outriders to scout the area before moving a single unit, so could a cavalry ambush really take them by surprise?
Well... if all else failed, we could play the madman and charge from far off, but that would cost us dearly in stamina.
To my question, Zhuge Liang answered in a calm voice.
"Have no fear."
"..."
"The troops our lord leads will not betray our expectations."
Faced with so bold a declaration, I could only nod along with a dazed look on my face. If Zhuge Liang said it could be done, then believe her I must. If I could not trust talent like this, whom could I trust?
I deployed the army exactly as Zhuge Liang wished, and then simply watched.
On the left flank of the General-in-Chief's army, in a spot where nothing grew but weeds — weeds just tall enough to hide a body lying flat — someone muttered:
"...I'd only ever heard tell of this. Never thought I'd be the one doing it."
The woman with the striking silver-white hair heaved a long sigh.
Just then, another voice rose beside Ma Chao.
"But what can we do? The General-in-Chief said with his own lips that he trusts us."
"..."
Beautiful as she was, Ma Chao could hardly deny it. What else could explain why she — who had fussed over her bearing even on battlefields where limbs flew every which way — was lying in the dirt like this?
—I trust you.
It was all because of the trust of the General-in-Chief, the man she had come to love.
Her mother had always put it this way when it came to the affairs between men and women:
"Love, you see, is a contest — the one who falls first is the one who loses."
"...And which one were you, Mother?"
"Me? The winner, obviously!"
At her mother's crowing answer, her father had cut in:
"What nonsense is that? You were the one who seduced me first, dear... Ack—! That hurts! Stop hitting me!"
Her mother, cheeks flaming red, thumped his back again and again — and off her father scurried.
Just as Ma Chao was recalling that heartwarming scene, a battle cry rose nearby.
"...About time, I'd say."
"Looks that way."
When the general nearby agreed, Ma Chao shouted loudly enough for every soldier around to hear:
"Time's up! Quit napping and get up!"
Neigh—!
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the Ferghana Horse, which had been lying flat on the ground, sprang upright. Ma Chao, naturally, rose with it, still seated in the saddle, and one after another the other soldiers came up from their hiding places in the same fashion.
"Whew..."
Ma Chao loosened her body, stiff and sore from lying so long alongside her horse. To think she would end up using the ambush craft of the northern horse tribes — a people with nothing around them but weeds — lying in wait with their very mounts. Come to think of it, she was of mixed blood herself, so the feeling was a novel one.
Ma Chao turned her head and said:
"Still, I never dreamed anyone could copy that. I'm impressed."
"Thank you for the compliment."
The general who kept her brown hair tied back smiled.
"Back in my Bing Province days, crossing blades with the frontier tribes time and again, I seem to have picked up their ways without ever meaning to."
Zhang Liao, courtesy name Wenyuan. A commander of the Bing Province cavalry, said to have followed the General-in-Chief since the old days.
Their horsemanship, so the reputation went, yielded nothing even to the Wuhuan and Xianbei of the north — and as if to prove it, the riders under Zhang Liao's command matched the Qiang cavalry's outlandish riding tricks with ease. First they would watch in astonishment, and before long they would be trying the maneuvers themselves, remarking that they looked doable — how could anyone not acknowledge that? At the very least, that reputation was no idle boast.
Even now, the Bingzhou riders were demonstrating the very same art as the Qiang cavalry: lying low with their horses, then rising as one.
Ma Chao spoke up.
"Still, I won't be handing you the highest merit."
"What a coincidence. I was thinking the very same thing."
Zhang Liao answered in an easy, unhurried tone.
"Shall we wager on which unit cuts down more of the enemy?"
"...I won't go easy on you."
At a proposal as bold as bold could be, sparks flew in Ma Chao's eyes.
Zhang Liao said, in a voice that could not have cared less:
"Hehe. I look forward to it."
"..."
In the same breath, the Qiang cavalry under Ma Chao burst forward, and hot on their heels, the Bingzhou cavalry under Zhang Liao came thundering after. The two mounted units the General-in-Chief trusted most were bearing down on one single target.
"Hm? What is that sound?"
King Duosi, who had linked up with the Viper Corps and was pressing his assault on the enemy, frowned at the noise rising nearby. It was a sound like the very axis of the earth being shaken. The kind of sound one heard only when countless men came charging across a battlefield.
"...Wait. They're charging?"
The instant the thought formed, an uneasy premonition seized King Duosi, and he whipped his head around. And unfortunately, his misgiving proved dead on. The enemy's mounted units were bearing down on them from far off, kicking up a great cloud of dust.
At the sight, King Duosi bellowed to his aide:
"Hey! Where in blazes did those bastards pop out from?!"
"I-I don't know, my lord! We checked every last spot where the enemy could possibly hide...?!"
The Viper Corps, primed to spring their own ambush the moment the enemy showed themselves, had already worn deflated expressions upon realizing that no one was hiding at all. Even if cavalry did swoop down on them, they had calculated, riders spent from a long ride could be brushed aside with ease.
But what was the sight before them now? Cavalry brimming with vigor, as though they had just risen from a rest. The Nanman, who had never imagined the enemy would lie hidden in the open grassland rather than the brush — the only cover fit for concealing a body — were thrown into confusion.
Then King Duosi raised his voice.
"Don't be afraid! The enemy only looks impressive on the outside — they must be worn out from riding all that way!"
Drawing his sword from his belt, King Duosi declared:
"Loose the vipers and raise your shields! They are no different from the soft scholars we've been cutting down all this while!"
Waaah—!
Heartened by the commander who led them, the Nanman found their courage again and let out a rousing cry.
But King Duosi had overlooked two things. The first was that the cavalry was hardly winded at all.
"Never give ground! I, Duosi, stand with you!"
The second was that even had they been exhausted, they were elite cavalry more than capable of crushing the Viper Corps.
"Forward! Drive back the ene— khhk!"
"M-My lord?!"
King Duosi, standing at the very front, caught Ma Chao's spear shaft full on and went soaring through the air. Tough as his body was, befitting the chieftain who led the Nanman, he could not escape losing consciousness to Ma Chao's blow.
"He's been shrieking in my ears this whole time. That one's their boss, right?"
"...Probably."
Ma Chao, trampling men and vipers alike with perfect impartiality as she advanced, glanced back over her shoulder.
"Strong, just as they say."
At some point, the Bingzhou cavalry had caught up with them and begun tearing into the Nanman. At their head rode a brown-eyed woman, her crescent blade sweeping through the enemy and felling them with every swing.