The First Clash with Lu Bu's Army
The dust of the battlefield rose like a living thing under the hooves of thousands of horses. I gripped my spear tighter as the wind whipped past my face.
“Zayul, did you relieve yourself properly before marching out?”
Xiahou Dun’s booming voice cut through the tension. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“When I told her I was heading to the front lines, she cried buckets. Wouldn’t let go of me until the very last moment.”
“Hahaha! Unlike your eldest, your second wife is quite the clingy one.”
I hadn’t realized just how deeply attached Yuan Jing was. Then again, when I said I was stopping by her hometown of Chohyeon before heading into battle, she had insisted on following me all the way there. In the end, I’d had no choice but to bring her along.
“Finish this quickly and come back to embrace her as much as you like.”
“Let’s drop that topic here. We should go greet the Imperial Uncle.”
Xiahou Dun and I rode together toward the border between Yanzhou and Xuzhou. In the original history, this was the battle where Xiahou Dun would suffer defeat. But not this time. The three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry under our command, along with the seven thousand elite Qingzhou soldiers, were the cream of the crop. Moreover, back in Chohyeon, Cao Shun was providing logistical support, and Xun You had been assigned as our military advisor. This was clearly Cao Cao’s way of telling Xiahou Dun, Make a proper victory in your first battle against Lu Bu’s army.
Naturally, as the vanguard, we needed something to completely shatter the enemy’s momentum. And that moment came at the border between Chohyeon and Xiaopei.
“Vice Commander, look over there.”
“Oh? Is that dust cloud in the distance the Imperial Uncle Liu?”
We immediately galloped toward the several hundred soldiers desperately fleeing toward Yanzhou. I spotted him at once.
“Uncle Xiahou!”
“What is it?”
“Please let me handle the conversation with Imperial Uncle Liu and my two masters!”
“Very well. Do as you wish!”
With Yue Jin and Li Zheng as my left and right deputies, I charged forward at full speed and made first contact with Liu Bei’s forces.
“Imperial Uncle Liu, over here!”
“Ah! Zayul?”
“Yes, it’s been a long time.”
I joined up with Liu Bei’s troops and scanned the enemy forces pursuing them from afar.
“I heard there was a major battle in Xiaopei two days ago, so I gathered the soldiers from Chohyeon and came at once. What happened?”
“Heh heh. So that scoundrel Lu Bu finally bared his fangs at the imperial court? It was a sudden ambush.”
Liu Bei laughed bitterly, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were clearly in no mood for humor.
“Zayul, lend me just one horse! I’ll go crush those bastards right now!”
“Same here. Bring me a horse too.”
Both men were overflowing with fighting spirit, shouting for mounts so they could launch an immediate counterattack.
“Please leave this to us. We will deal with the enemy shortly.”
“Be careful, Zayul!”
At Liu Bei’s encouraging words, I smiled and bowed before turning to face the oncoming enemy. Soon after, Xiahou Dun arrived with the main force.
“Zayul, how many are there?”
“Roughly twenty thousand.”
“They’ve scraped together quite a number. But we are the elite of the elite.”
At that moment, Liu Bei called out urgently.
“Is that not Xiahou Wanyang? Be careful. Those men are formidable.”
“Withdraw safely. We will hold them here.”
Xiahou Dun paid no heed to Liu Bei’s warning and charged straight toward the enemy.
“Beware the Camp Crushing Unit—!!!”
Liu Bei’s voice echoed like thunder even as he retreated toward Chohyeon. The Camp Crushing Unit was Gao Shun’s elite infantry under Lu Bu’s command. It seemed the enemy had come well prepared.
“Uncle, look there. Enemy cavalry is positioned on both flanks.”
“Zayul, I will charge the center.”
The enemy was attacking from three directions. In the center, an enemy general led cavalry, while the flanks consisted of infantry and archer units. Xiahou Dun was brave, but a direct central charge would allow the archers on both sides to surround and rain arrows down on us.
“Uncle, then I will split our forces in two and strike the archer units on the flanks.”
“Good! While I break their central vanguard, I leave the sides to you, nephew!”
I gathered my troops and called out to my two lieutenants.
“Yue Jin! Li Zheng!”
“Yes, Colonel!”
“You two strike the enemy’s left wing together. I will personally crush their right wing.”
“Understood, Colonel!”
“Good fortune to you both!”
I raised my spear in salute, then led two thousand cavalry in a thunderous charge toward the enemy’s right wing. I knew well the bravery of Yue Jin and Li Zheng. They were not men destined to remain mere lieutenants. In this battle, I would give them every opportunity to distinguish themselves so that Cao Cao would come to trust them as full generals.
And I, alongside Xiahou Dun, would carry our first battle against Lu Bu’s army to a decisive victory—
The earth trembled beneath the hooves of two thousand elite riders as they smashed into the enemy’s right flank like a steel avalanche.
These foes were indeed different. They had been preparing to intercept Xiahou Dun’s central charge, but upon seeing my cavalry surge forward, they swiftly changed direction and unleashed a storm of arrows. Fortunately, I had struck first, punching straight through their shield formation.
I had intended to demonstrate the full power of charging cavalry, but suddenly the enemy infantry rushed straight at us. For infantry to charge cavalry like this proved just how elite these troops truly were. In this situation, we could not stop moving!
“Keep moving and tear through them! If the horses’ hooves stop, we fall!”
The advantage of cavalry was striking from a higher position and using the horse’s momentum to overwhelm infantry. But if we halted, the enemy could swarm us. A few desperate soldiers could hamstring the horses, bringing both mount and rider crashing down.
So I kept the horses moving constantly, using my spear to sweep away any who tried to approach.
“Continue tearing through their ranks until their infantry can’t form up! I will personally take the enemy commander’s head!”
At my shout, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry following me rampaged through the enemy like a whirlwind, preventing their infantry from organizing. In such close quarters, arrows were useless. It was turning into a brutal melee, but I would not allow it.
“Guh!”
I skewered an enemy officer through the torso, then lifted him with raw strength and hurled him away. The armored officer flew through the air and crashed into his own lines, bowling over several light-armored soldiers like dominoes. Elite against elite meant the side that suffered more casualties would break first.
“Colonel!!!”
“?!”
In the chaos of battle, an officer drenched in blood rushed toward me.
“Look there! The left wing’s banner has fallen!”
“What?”
While I was mercilessly crushing the enemy’s right wing, I saw our own left wing’s banner collapse. A bad feeling gripped me. But I couldn’t simply abandon my position to help. With the formation of left—center—right, I would have to break through the center to reach the left wing. And I couldn’t just leave this sector.
“Damn it. To find out what happened…”
I began specifically targeting armored officers, ignoring regular soldiers. I hunted down those giving commands and cut them down one by one.
“We must break this unit! Where is their commander?!”
No matter how strong an army, once its commanders fell, it would scatter. I continued trampling the stubborn enemy trying to hold my advance. Then, the sound of a retreat horn rang out. It was not ours—it was the enemy’s.
“Military Colonel! The enemy is withdrawing!”
“Then break through and head for the center!”
With the enemy’s right wing falling back to the sound of the retreat horn, I seized the opening. Taking five hundred cavalry with me, I raced straight toward the center. In the midst of the melee, I saw Xiahou Dun pushing back Gao Shun’s troops through sheer power.
At that moment, I charged directly toward the enemy’s command banner. Even though the left wing was in trouble, I needed to claim at least one general’s head here. Capturing Gao Shun would be an incredible achievement, but even a famous subordinate would do.
As I galloped toward the enemy standard, I saw a unit of archers desperately trying to flee, protected by heavily armored infantry.
“Colonel, their shield wall is solid!”
“Jump over it!”
The horses were exhausted after one full charge, but the enemy was right in front of us. I gave the order and leaped over the shield wall first, landing among the fleeing archers.
The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry who followed me plunged into the formation like wolves into a flock of sheep, tearing the enemy soldiers apart. In the chaos, I spotted a standard-bearer on horseback and, beside him, a mounted general holding not a crossbow but a massive bow.
I charged straight at him without hesitation, spear raised.
“Enemy general ahead!”
“!?”
“I am Cao Zayul of Chohyeon in Yanzhou!”
At my shout, soldiers rushed to protect the bow-wielding general, but it was already too late. I hurled my spear with all my might. The iron-shafted weapon punched through both the blocking soldier and the mounted general behind him.
“Guh… ack!”
“General!!”
It happened in an instant. Having taken the enemy commander’s life with a thrown spear, I immediately drew the sword at my waist.
“Zayul! Zayul!”
“!?”
As I claimed the enemy general’s head, Xiahou Dun, who had broken through the center, emerged from the melee and charged toward me with spear in hand. His armor was soaked crimson with blood in every plate, and his face and hands were covered in cuts.
At that moment, the center also collapsed and began retreating alongside the right wing. The entire enemy army withdrew. I pursued them halfway before stopping. Our first engagement with Lu Bu’s army had ended in victory—and we had taken an enemy general’s head.
The vanguard battle concluded with Cao Cao’s forces triumphant. One enemy general slain.
“Ugh…!”
“Deputy Yue Jin! Li Zheng!”
“I was… sniped. While attacking the left wing, a skilled archer in the center….”
Li Zheng was gasping, a large arrow buried in his stomach. The collapse of our left wing’s banner earlier had happened when Li Zheng was struck and fell. The standard-bearers nearby had tried to rescue him and were attacked in turn.
“Come now, Commandant Li! Stay with us!”
Yue Jin, who had fought beside him, held his hand, but Li Zheng simply smiled and nodded weakly.
“In our very first battle… I have disgraced myself.”
“Don’t speak such nonsense. What are you all doing? Call the military physician and transport him to the rear at once!”
“Yes, Military Colonel!”
As the soldiers hurriedly carried Li Zheng to the rear, I turned to Yue Jin.
“Deputy Yue, are you unharmed?”
“In a fight like this, this much is nothing.”
Small but rock-solid, Yue Jin was like an unbreakable war chariot. He had performed his role splendidly alongside Li Zheng, proving himself a fine general in the making.
“Zayul.”
“Uncle Xiahou.”
After the battle, Xiahou Dun approached after wiping down his armor. In his hand was the severed head of the enemy general I had killed.
“The man you slew was one of Lu Bu’s stout generals—Zhao Sheng, they call him.”
Everyone else had been using crossbows, but this man had been mounted and wielding a great bow. I had instinctively known he was a commander. So his name was Zhao Sheng.
“The enemy lost roughly three thousand men. We took Zhao Sheng’s head, and their commander Gao Shun fled back to Xiaopei. The first step has been taken well.”
“This victory belongs to you, Uncle, for leading as the main commander. Shouldn’t we report it immediately?”
“Zayul, you did most of the work. As for me, after losing this eye, it’s been a long time since I fought like this. Hahaha!”
I had secured a proper victory for Xiahou Dun’s military record, and I had earned a distinguished feat by taking an enemy general’s head. Now, we only needed Li Zheng, who had been sent to the rear in Chohyeon, to recover safely after the war ended.
Thus, Cao Cao’s army and Lu Bu’s army had clashed. In a conflict that would end in either total annihilation or complete conquest, the first battle ended in victory for Cao Cao’s forces.
What Xiahou Dun and I had to do next was regroup and then lay siege to Xiaopei. When this report reached Cao Cao, he immediately dispatched an additional ten thousand troops to our army and mobilized a second force. The second army, commanded by Cao Ren with Xu Huang and Yu Jin as his lieutenants, would attack Pengcheng, located just below Xiaopei.
The front lines of Xiaopei and Pengcheng. And soon, Lu Bu himself would march up from Xuzhou City.