Clash (2)
It's a bit late to bring this up now, but contrary to the common image of them as pure fighting machines, the nomadic tribes were never particularly fond of open melee combat.
It wasn't because they lacked skill at close quarters.
A people who lived their entire lives hunting and waging war being incapable of swinging a sword? That made no sense.
It was more accurate to call it a strategic choice.
From a distance, they could inflict devastating losses on their enemies.
Strike and retreat, wear the foe down through relentless harassment, and then smash into them with a full charge — the enemy would simply collapse in a heap. Why bother with melee at all?
The nomads' equipment had always been notoriously light to begin with.
They were a people who wandered from place to place living a pastoral life, so they avoided heavy armor as a rule.
In other words, there was simply no environment in which a nomad could mine iron like a settled people and process it into proper arms.
Could they fight hand-to-hand? Certainly. But when facing enemies clad in top-grade armor, why trade blows and rack up casualties when they could simply keep their distance and rain down arrows?
This tactic worked so devastatingly well in practice that it contributed enormously to the Mongols' rise as a colossal empire.
But what happens when they come up against a formidable enemy it simply doesn't work on?
**THWACK—!**
"Urk!"
"Wobbling around like that!"
Lü Bu had seized an opening and hammered a lunging nomad hard with the shaft of the Sky Piercer Halberd.
The soldier floated through the air, his skull caved in as though something had detonated against it.
Any ordinary unit would have trembled in terror at the sight of such carnage — but the Mongol army was no ordinary force.
"By order of the Great Khan! Buy time — keep that woman from rampaging freely!"
At someone's shout, the nomads charged in without a trace of fear.
With every sweep of her weapon, Lü Bu cut them down methodically, and burst out laughing.
"……."
Watching it, one might think they were merely wasting soldiers' lives — but this, too, was a legitimate tactic.
A human weapon whose very existence could introduce chaos onto the battlefield.
Rather than leave such a terrifying figure be and risk losing their own commander's head, it was correct to feed in soldiers and buy time.
Hold her down somehow, and while the war goddess was pinned in place, smash apart the enemy main force. Simple as that.
...Easier said than done.
Did walking into a death trap really look that simple to them?
They'd be lucky if the soldiers didn't start begging for their lives and breaking formation.
Judged on that score, the Mongol army was actually handling Lü Bu in a textbook fashion.
"She actually did run out there alone. Unbelievable."
As Lü Bu carved through the nomads in the heart of the battlefield, Zhang Fei muttered in exasperated disbelief.
I gave a faint snort of laughter at her words.
"What? You could do it too."
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu once said that Zhang Fei took enemy generals' heads as casually as pulling trinkets from a pouch.
Only Guan Yu and Zhang Fei could trade dozens of exchanges even against that woman — Lü Bu.
Seo Yeo went without saying, of course.
"……."
Zhang Fei mulled over my words for a long moment, then drew her weapon to its full length.
The Serpent Spear — a monstrous four meters of steel.
Every time I saw it, I marveled all over again at how anyone could handle something so absurdly massive.
"Fine. Then it wouldn't be a problem if I went and cut loose too, right?"
"...As long as you're confident you won't get hurt?"
"Pffhat, what kind of answer is that?"
At my teasing reply, Zhang Fei barked a laugh.
"Got it. If my lord insists, who am I to refuse?"
"……."
"Then off I gooo—!"
Huh?
Didn't you just say you'd listen to me?
Having seemed to steel herself for just a moment, Zhang Fei was already vaulting onto her horse and charging toward the front lines as if she'd never hesitated at all.
"The Yan man Zhang Yide is here!! Anyone who dares settle life and death with me, step forward!!"
Wow, that's a loud voice.
So that's the famous war cry that chased Cao Cao's army from Changban.
At that colossal bellow — praised by later generations as a roar like rolling thunder — every Mongol eye swung toward Zhang Fei.
"Who is that woman?! Kill her at once!"
"What?! Crazy woman, you say?! You're dead!"
"Why, you—! GYAAAAGH!"
The Mongol who had opened his mouth for nothing found himself impaled on the Serpent Spear, shrieking as his body hung from its length.
Well, if anyone had it coming, it was probably him.
Just as Lü Bu had, Zhang Fei ran down the nomads one after another and began an indiscriminate slaughter.
The horse she rode couldn't compare to Red Hare, but it was a top-line breed personally hand-picked by someone with a suspicious level of devotion to all things equine.
'Pl-please take good care of our beautiful girl...! Sniff!'
'…….'
The way she'd trembled as she handed over the reins, clearly unable to bear letting the animal go, had left me speechless.
Never mind the fact that she spent every waking hour at the stables outside of training and sleep.
Left alone, she looked ready to marry the horse outright.
...Well, with that level of devotion, I'd handed her charge of horse management in the first place.
In any case, her efforts had evidently not been wasted — Zhang Fei's steed easily ran down the nomads, and the ones she caught couldn't cope with the Serpent Spear's overwhelming reach, toppling over this way and that.
I watched Lü Bu and Zhang Fei rampage wildly across the middle of the battlefield, then turned my head.
"Ah — the two of you, stay here."
"……."
Guan Yu, who had done exactly the same thing during the campaign against the Shanyue Tribe, flinched and fell silent.
So if I hadn't said anything, she'd have charged out just like her sworn sister.
Her face and expression looked like carved ice, but underneath she had a temper of pure fire.
"……."
Guan Yu flushed faintly, as if embarrassed that I'd read her so easily, while Zhao Yun — a model soldier without a single rough edge to her character — hadn't shown any such impulse to begin with.
Seeing this, it was clear the two had similar auras but entirely different personalities.
"Guan Yu. Zhao Yun."
I gave my orders to the two who had been silently awaiting them.
"Hold your moment. When you judge the nomads are spent, charge in with the cavalry."
"...Yes, my lord."
"I shall follow your command."
I watched the two vanish from their positions with orders in hand, and turned the situation over in my mind.
"Dieee—!"
"LOOSE—!!"
Even now, soldiers on both sides traded volleys of arrows, forcing casualties upon one another.
"Hey! How many is that now?! Feels like you've already killed a hundred!"
"Can't you shut UPPP—!!"
The peerless generals of the Match for Ten Thousand, rampaging alone across the field and piling up mountains of corpses.
"……."
The situation itself was flowing along nicely, but having noticed one odd thing, I was seized by a strange unease.
...Where are the Mongol Empire's generals, and what are they doing?
The ones shouting commands and directing the Mongol soldiers were nothing but squad-leading officers — the whereabouts of the generals who should have been commanding entire formations remained a mystery.
I could accept Genghis Khan himself being at supreme command, but not a single other general in sight? That was strange.
In the end, the battle drew to a close without further incident as the Mongol soldiers slowly withdrew.
"Aw... what a letdown. They're running away with their tails between their legs!"
"Hey! Where do you think you're going! The sun hasn't even set yet!"
Lü Bu and Zhang Fei each reacted in their own way, but neither broke my warning against pursuing too deep, returning obediently to the lines.
At least they didn't seem like the type to fall for a feigned retreat, which was a relief.
A feigned retreat was a dangerous tactic where a fake withdrawal could turn into a real rout — but assuming the Mongol army under Genghis Khan would botch it that way was far too optimistic.
"My lord, shall we let the soldiers rest?"
"...Yes."
I answered the adjutant's question and scanned the battlefield once more.
Was today merely the opening act?
I felt the biting winter wind wash over me and pulled my collar tight.
──────────
Several days had passed since the General-in-Chief began his full-scale collision with the Mongol Empire in You Province.
"Move as fast as you can! Anyone who falls behind answers to me with their life!"
"Yes, General—!"
A woman with striking bluish-silver hair was driving her forces through punishing forced marches, shuttling between Xiliang and Yi Province.
Ma Chao, courtesy name Mengqi.
The general to whom the General-in-Chief had assigned a separate force, ordering her to defend the Yi Province and Xiliang regions.
"CHARGE—!!"
"E-enemy raid! Enemy raid—!"
Leading her Qiang troops, Ma Chao threw herself into crushing the nomads appearing near Yi Province, her swift mobility turned to full account.
"Guhak—!"
It proved the General-in-Chief's prediction — that the enemy would inevitably stir up trouble along the flanks — had not missed the mark. And yet, strangely enough, Ma Chao's expression as she annihilated them was far from pleased.
Having wiped out the enemy with ease, she was approached by a beauty with a gentle countenance.
"General, this is once again..."
"...Yes."
Ma Chao's brow creased faintly at Huang Zhong's remark.
"There are far too few of them."
The General-in-Chief had said that as the nomads made their grand loop back toward Han territory, they would swallow up every tribe along their path.
He had also warned that if they attacked with those absorbed forces swelling their ranks, our flanks would be in grave danger.
Their numbers, he said, would be no fewer than fifty thousand — so he had ordered us to cooperate with the Nanman, who had made the jungle their stronghold, and crush them.
But the nomad force that had actually struck our flank numbered a mere twenty thousand.
And most of even those were clearly an unruly rabble only recently absorbed.
──ROOAR──!
"That's it! Magnificent! Turn every last one of them into horse meat!"
Watching the Nanman and their menagerie of savage beasts hunt the nomads down, Ma Chao turned her head.
"...My lord."
The enemy had split into small bands and was systematically pillaging and occupying the region piece by piece.
To anyone's eye it was a stalling tactic, but as defenders of the territory, we had no choice but to play along with it.
The moment our lord grasped the situation, he had dispatched half our forces northward...
...but there was no guarantee they would arrive in time.
"Please, let them hold safely."
Gritting her lip, Ma Chao followed the crimson banner Fa Zheng had raised and set off for the next battlefield.